When the sky is falling
by gyikhu
Summary: Let's play with emotions on a new level, let's run after the secret against all odds, let's give the bad guys what they deserve. The sequel to my first story "The new adventure of Lara Croft". Have fun! R&R as always!
1. Chapter 1

**It has been a long time since I started with my first story, which had to very creative title 'The new adventure of Lara Croft'. As some of you supported me with that a sequel ****would a good idea, now here it goes. You will see that this one will differ quite much from the first part but things are not always as dark as they look like on the first sight :)**

**There is no need to know the first story to understand this one, only the characters are the same. But if you want to know their history, feel free to read the first one too. **

**I tried to follow the first one in a sense that there is a much higher emphasis on emotions here, but I hope that you also get enough action and adventure that you would not find it boring. After writing the very much action based crossover story, I felt like I want to get back to my romantic side and give Simon a hard time with Lara :)**

**So have fun reading this and I am always happy to hear your opinion. I even ask for it! Don't forget, reviews mean so much to any writer!  
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**My plan is to update every Sunday, so keep looking for the new parts!**

**As always.. HUGE THANKS to Lara Anne for beta-reading, giving me ideas when I was stuck and bearing the emotional torture! :)**

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The small room made a depressing and stern impression, as the neon lights illuminated the pale green walls and the few pieces of metal furniture, which were placed in the room. The table and two chairs were carefully fixed to the floor, so that not by chance they could be used as weapons. Lara stepped close to the mirror that covered the whole left wall, but only her rather annoyed mirror image looked back at her, despite the fact that she knew that from the other side she could have been watched without her noticing. They had been making her wait slowly for an hour already, she did not understand why she was there at all. She slowly reached the point where she would not care anymore and just would go home but something did not let her rest, the growing curiosity triumphed over her impatience. Although she did not want to come here on the first place...

...

This morning started the same way as all the others ... After a quiet knock Winston stepped into Lara's bedroom and with a sudden movement he pulled the curtains open. Lara turned grumbling to the other side, not wanting the light to beat out the sleep from her eyes, cursing under her breath, although Winston only fulfilled her own request not to let her sleep longer than nine in the morning. In the recent weeks, Lara was not in a good mood, and Winston knew exactly why but he did not want to let the woman immerse in the self-pity that she very cleverly tried to hide even from herself. The butler waited until Lara sat up in the bed to make sure that she would not go back to sleep.

"All right, Winston. You can go now." - Lara groaned out with great difficulty, as she put her feet on the ground. The man looked at her for a moment, querying, but then he turned and left her alone without a word. Lara's hand moved towards the bedside table, and without even looking over there, she began to rummage in the drawer after a painkiller. The previous night she had been a little lost in her thoughts, which ended up that she managed to consume a little bit more wine than necessary, which now had the unpleasant aftermath. As her hands still did not get hold of the pills among all the rubbish she kept there, she angrily turned her look towards the drawer, when something caught her eyes. Almost involuntarily she reached for the photograph, the corners of which had gotten utterly crumpled during her previous search. With expressionless face she watched the two figures, who seemed so happy, with their faces close together, smiling and looking into the camera. She did not even remember who took the photo but she knew exactly what she had felt then. A lot of things she had not ever since, and this she could thank to only one person. To the one who laughed on the picture there, who then made her so happy, and now everything had become so empty, just as suddenly as he entered her life, just as quickly he disappeared from it again. Her two hands suddenly grabbed the upper edge of the photo but she was not able to do so, she could not tear the photo apart. Maybe it was the only thing that reminded her of those days, not that she could have ever erased them out of her mind. Despite having tried, God knows how much she tried. "Goddammit!" - she exclaimed bitterly. Angrily she threw the picture back into the drawer, and she slammed it, which snapped loudly, as the entire nightstand shook. Lara, not caring about the headaches anymore, furiously jumped up and walked towards the bathroom when she heard the door bell from the ground floor. _Who the hell can this be?_ - the thought crossed her mind but she did not deal with it any further. _Winston will take care of it, he knows very well that I do not want to see anyone_. With a deep sigh, she was watching her wet face in the mirror, when a faint knock on her door caught her ears again. When she turned around, Winston was standing expectantly in front of her.

"I told you I did not want to see anyone." - Lara walked up to him, while wiping her hands. She ran her fingers through her hair slowly, and put it together in the usual ponytail. "I do not feel like talking to anybody." - she added as she passed near her butler.

"Lady Croft, the gentlemen came from the MI6 and they urgently want to speak with you." - Winston said softly but confidently. Lara paused for a moment when she heard the words. Suddenly an unknown fear and impotent rage ran through her that she was unable to hide from her servant even with the greatest efforts. He had known her for too long. "It is not him." - he added as he noticed the woman's emotions on her face. Lara irritably threw the towel from her hands to a nearby chair when she realized that Winston so easily read on her face, as if it had been an open book. She hated when anyone could see her weaknesses, even if it was someone so close to her like the old man, who had been there for her all her life.

"Tell them that I am not interested in anything they want to say." - Lara replied as she stared out of the window so that Winston could not see her face. _MI6? What do they want here?_ Already mentioning them brought Lara out of her temper and only because of one man. She hated that she still could not get rid of his memory, that he still stirred up her emotions in such a level, that she could not close up the happenings in her. But how could she have done that when everything stayed open between them?

"I really do not want to interfere, but maybe you should listen to them." - Winston said quietly behind her. Lara closed her eyes for a moment, she did not want to answer by anger. No matter how bad she felt like she did not want Winston to suffer her mood swings. Her hands clenched by her side as she held them close. "It would do you good, if something diverted your thoughts from what had happened." – the man added cautiously. After all he knew that Lara did not like to be instructed, but Winston thought, their relationship over the years was strong enough to attempt the impossible. Lara had always been self-opinionated, ever since her childhood, she never allowed herself to be influenced, so she always tried to work off the bad things torn inside, ravaged by grief, and Winston could only helplessly watch her suffer. Fortunately this was uncommon in the past, but he knew that the current situation had deeply hurt Lara, despite of her trying to appear tough and strong. Though he would have given everything for it, to finally see her happy and content. "The gentlemen are waiting downstairs in the study." - Winston said objectively and then withdrew respectfully. Lara did not even want to believe what she heard, would her butler now decide who she had to see and who not? Finally she resignedly set out in the direction of her dressing room. _Let's get through it, the sooner they leave the better. I do not care anyway, whatever they want from me _- she decided to herself.

According to her mood she chose a black shirt, which nicely emphasized her figure nevertheless she had no intention to do so. She took the first pair of trousers, which her hands grabbed and after a quick glance into the mirror she started towards the staircase. She stopped for a moment in front of the study door, holding the door handle, and took a deep breath. When she entered the door, that mysterious half-smile was sitting on her face already, which always made her look a little bit mysterious.

"Gentlemen! How can I be at your service so early in the morning? "- she said as she noticed the two men who were standing in front of the fireplace. She had not had much to do with the agency before, she always tried to avoid them, and not to make a big fuss about her work, of which not many people apart from Winston knew. She could not imagine what the two men now wanted from her. One of them was a little older, apparently he was the senior, while the other man seemed hardly more than twenty-five, he looked surprised at Lara, the expression on his face was something like 'do I see well?'. Lara smiled slightly when she noticed the young man's astonished gaze running over the figure.

"Lady Croft! Thank you for seeing us at such short notice." - the older man said, who came closer to Lara, but waited until the woman made the first move. She shook hands with him, it was impressive that the man knew the etiquette. "I'm agent Beckburg, my partner is agent Clarence." - he introduced himself as he gently squeezed her hand. Lara nodded her head with a barely perceptible gesture, she no longer saw the necessity to introduce herself.

"Please have a seat." - Lara pointed to the comfortable armchairs, while walking towards the fire and sat down in one of them. She crossed her legs slowly and watched the faces of the two men inquiringly. The young man was still observing her, seemed to have forgotten about himself. Agent Beckburg finally cleared his throat and began.

"We want to talk to you about a very delicate matter." - the man began with some uncertainty in his voice. "It's a national security issue, which we would need your help with." Lara was listening to the man with growing interest, not really understanding how she would come into the picture when it came to such things. For now, however, she said nothing, waiting for the continuation. "Something attracted our attention, which seriously endangers the safety of not only England, but may affect the whole world. Solving this threat would need your experience." - he looked at her expectantly. Lara raised her eyebrows slightly, though she tried not to show surprise.

"Exactly what are we talking about here? Could you explain me how I can help you? "- she asked back, she did not like this secrecy, she could not understand why he did not say clearly what was expected of her. The fear was growing in her that once again she would get involved into something that she rather had not but her curiosity did not let her rest.

"For now, unfortunately I am unable to say more. However, I would like to ask you to come with us to the headquarters, where you get all your questions answered if you decide to help us." - the man replied. He seemed to be under pressure, apparently he was ordered to convince her of this matter and now he was worried he would not succeed.

"Do I see it well that you expect me to say yes to something I do not know anything about? Do I understand it correctly? "- Lara frowned slightly at him, while her fingers clasped in front of her. She turned her gaze to the young man for a moment, who looked away embarrassed though, then she looked back at agent Beckburg again, who held her gaze stiffly.

"Please understand, even if I wanted to, I could not say more." - the agent explained himself, but it was obvious that he did not come up to the scratch. Lara was still watching his face, trying to determine whether she should believe him. Suddenly she stood up and walked to the window, whereupon the two men rose from their chairs in embarrassment. Even in this situation they did not forget their manners.

"All right, I will inform you about my decision very soon. Winston will escort you out." - Lara replied, then turned away from the two men making clear that the conversation was over.

"Please reconsider!" – the man still added softly, and then Lara heard them walk out of the room and the door closed behind them. As she looked back at the previous place of the conversation, she noticed an envelope on the coffee table, which the man had left there. The whole situation started to become strange, a kind of uncertainty was lingering in the air. Lara buried her face in her hands and rubbed her still aching temples. Common sense told her to avoid all this from afar, not to touch the envelope at all, which was lying on the table so luring. All experience told against it, the MI6, the secrecy, that her brain was revolving around only one thing for weeks and she could not concentrate on anything else, but Lara still slowly moved towards the sofa. She descended on the couch and just stared at the piece of paper, as if she expected it to speak. She did know it very well that if she picked it up, there would be no way back. She already knew herself that much. After all she was not at all sure if she was ready for any task but maybe Winston was right and it would do her good. Her fingers gently touched the envelope, as if she feared it could burn her hands. The message consisted of only a few lines and answered none of her thousands of questions, yet it made her wonder. She carefully placed the sheet back to its former place and for a long time she was just watching the fire, which playfully crackled in the fireplace. The flames danced merrily in front of her eyes but she did not see them, her mind was entirely somewhere else. Finally, with a sudden but very confident movement she sprang up and swept out of the door.

"Do not wait with the lunch for me!" – she said to Winston on the way out of the house, who had a faint smile crossing his face, not even knowing that Lara's ordeal had just begun.

...

Lara sat back on the uncomfortable chair and began drumming her fingers impatiently on the table. She tolerated it very badly lately, if she was left alone with her thoughts, and in this case there was nothing else that could have diverted her attention. Trying not to think about him she forced her mind in another direction, but she succeeded less and less. Why is it that if you want to forget about something, then almost everything reminds you on that one thing, even if things have nothing to do with it directly? She shook her head to get rid of her demons and again she took the short note out of her pocket. A faint creaking of the door brought her round from her contemplation, as a man in a suit joined her, whom Lara had never seen before.

"Lady Croft! Thank you for coming." - he welcomed her stiffly as he stepped closer.

"Do not thank me for anything yet." - Lara rose from the chair and looked at the man with investigative eyes. It was crying that he was very much aware of his importance, the tailor-made suit fit him like a glove.

"Excuse me that I see you here but I do not want anyone to eavesdrop on us." - he added quickly. "My name is Delaney." Lara was not surprised that the director of the MI6 was standing in front of her, the message came from him as well that the agents had left her.

"Tell me then what I am doing here?" - Lara asked as she settled back on the chair when the man offered her a seat, then he himself sat down opposite her. He ran his eyes around the interrogation room, as if this had been the first time he was there and had been surprised that this room existed.

"As I wrote in the message, it would be very important that you help us. We are facing a problem, for which your expertise is needed." - he began the usual speech. Lara began to lose her temper, no matter how she was trying to restrain herself.

"Look, I think we are just wasting each other's time. That much I already know from your agents, if you have nothing else to say, there is nothing we can talk about." - Lara said and moved swiftly towards the door.

"Wait!" – Delaney said. "You are right there, please, sit back." - the man continued quietly. Lara came to a halt with the handle in her hands and after a brief hesitation she turned and went back into the chair. He waited until she settled again opposite him and embarked with great difficulty. "We have long been following this man, his name is Kowalski. Probably you have not even heard about him, because he has been working quietly in the crime scene. Over the years we managed to get in an undercover agent into his group who still reports to us. The last two reports, however, caused concern."

"And what do I have to do with all this?" - Lara asked.

"Please, let me finish." - the man looked at her resignedly. "Unfortunately, I can not offer details because we do not know ourselves what's going on in the background but our agent reported that Kowalski made a very important discovery and he is desperately searching for something that can change everything."

"Could you explain finally how I come into the picture?" - Lara began to have a bad feeling about the whole thing, she was afraid that facts would come to the surface that she rather had kept to herself.

"Some recent events made us become attentive to your activities and learned a few things about you that you had successfully concealed so far. If I'm not mistaken, you have a certain knowledge and experience in this field, which in this case would be very important to us." - Lara's eyes narrowed as she listened to the older man's words. She was well aware what these recent events could have been, or who she owed it to that the Secret Service had noticed her. It was not enough that he was hovering in every of her thoughts, he still wanted to ruin her work as well? "If you are willing to help us solve this problem, then in return we turn a blind eye on your activities and we will not cross over each other's paths in the future either." - he continued, while not taking his eyes off the woman.

"Is this something like a threat?" - Lara looked back at him sharply.

"Please, do not feel I am forcing you to anything. This is an offer that is beneficial for both of us." - Delaney leaned back in his chair and waited for the woman's answer. Lara thought out all possibilities but it was not to her liking to get involved in this affair. However, she did not fancy that idea that the agency would follow her every move in the future, whatever she did.

"What am I supposed to do?" – she asked back suspiciously.

"A small team has been working on the case, please travel over there and join them. Find out that what we are facing and how to stop this insane. We are confronted with some ancient threat, which only you know to handle." - the man said so easily, as if he had invited her to a holiday. Lara did not want to believe what she had heard.


	2. Chapter 2

**It's Sunday, so time for the second chapter as promised :) Thanks for all your kind reviews, I appreciated them very much! There's no need to say again how much it means to me to hear your opinion.**

**I hope the second chapter will not disappoint again. Let's see if Lara gets out of her melancholy and finds out what is awaiting her :) Have fun!**

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Just a few hours later Lara was already sitting on the board of a small plane and headed for South America. She did not want to believe that she had agreed to this absurdity that Delaney had presented her. Essentially she did not find out anything more than that some guy was threatening with something. Actually a threat had not been even engrossed, just an incompetent man came to the conclusion that whatever it was that Kowalski was looking for was a dangerous thing. Lara still did not understand why this would be the case but she thought that actually she would do herself a favour in a certain level if she left her home, where everything just reminded her of those months. That confident smile, she could not get it out of her mind, no matter how she tried. Lara simply did not know what to make out of the situation, she had never felt this way. In the past she had continuously been frustrated by men but now she could not get over it although already three months had passed since that ...she did not want to even utter the name itself. Just staring out of the small round window she watched the clouds under the machine as they silently swept beneath them. How many times had she vowed to herself that once and for all she would close down this phase of her life, yet she never managed to move on. As she closed her eyes, she only saw him in front of her, and then she had felt that powerless anger again that she felt when he walked out of her life without a word, leaving behind a lot of questions that never got answered. First Lara suffered very badly, which later changed into anger, then slowly it began to settle and she just wanted to forget but failed to do so. Though she was not looking for him, she did not want to see him, she did not want to talk to him. If Simon did not try to call her, she would not either. Damn, she just managed to say his name, which still stirred her emotions. She was angry with him but most of all with herself for having behaved like a silly teenager who was tossing and turning awake at night mulling for hours why things had happened that way. Since then she avoided company although being alone was at least as bad. Winston was perfectly aware of the situation although they did not talk about it, they did not mention him or anything about him. This feeling will wear on as well ... one day ... like any other ...

The cracking voice of the pilot brought her round as he warned her of the impending landing. The machine's wheels gently touched the ground, Lara almost did not notice that they landed. As the plane slowed down she curiously looked out of the window, she had never been to Panama before, although the small airport looked just like any other around the world. She decided to put an end to this impossible situation, emptied the disturbing thoughts from her head and would only focus on what was coming. After forcing a smile on her face, she took the two sports bags, into which she gathered her gear in less than half an hour and stepped out into the sunlight. There was only a single flat building appearing in front of her eyes, the agency selected a small remote landing site. As she approached the entrance, she could only hope that someone was sent out to meet her and she would not have to find the office alone somewhere in the city. She entered the door, which slightly creaked as she opened it and her eyes stuck to the sole figure who sat in the little dusty waiting room. The man himself seemed to be bored to death, and wished the whole idea further that he had to come and meet someone at the airport. His legs stretched in front of him, with his hands in his pockets he was staring and watching a bug that was crawling in the dust at the shoe tip. As he noticed the approaching figure, he looked up and Lara immediately saw that his face went through a complete transformation. The man's gaze went up after Lara's boots entered his field of vision, an intense twinkle appeared in his eyes as he raised his eyebrows and licked his lips. He excitedly jumped up from the rickety chair and hurried over to her.

"Lady Croft?" - he asked with some surprise in his voice. Lara nodded, smiling as she measured the man. His short, blondish hair matched his blue eyes perfectly, there was a sardonic grin hiding in the corner of his mouth. "I'm Eddie. Let me help you with the luggage." - he added with enthusiasm and already took the two bags out of Lara's hands. "Come with me, my car is out here, I'll take you to the hotel."

"Thanks." - Lara followed the man to the other side of the building, who put the luggage in the back of the vehicle, then jumped in front of the woman and opened the door of the open-topped jeep for her. Lara smiled back at him kindly, she enjoyed his excitement, it had been a long time since she had spent so much time with anyone comfortably. Eddie was going to be fun trying to attract her attention from the very first moment.

"Fasten your seatbelt! Now I'll show you Panama!" - Eddie grinned as he turned out from the parking lot and started towards the city centre. High buildings appeared in front of their eyes, the heat became bearable as the wind was blowing through her hair. "Is this the first time you are here?" - the man asked to initiate some conversation.

"Yes, I have not been in this part of the world yet." - Lara said as she watched the area and the people on the street. She always liked to watch the locals just to get an idea of how life elsewhere in the world was.

"You'll see what a nice place this is. I will show you around if you want." - Eddie smiled.

"Thank you, we'll see about that. I came here to work for the time being." - Lara tried to slow the tempo a bit, what he was pelting her with. But she decided that if the opportunity arose she would try to relax a bit.

"What exactly will you do here?" - he asked curiously.

"Archaeology is my area of expertise." - Lara said shortly. Yet she had no idea who the man was, how much he knew or what she could tell him. Eddie looked back at her with astonishment.

"I thought that all the archaeologists were old guys." - Eddie laughed enthusiastically. Lara could not resist smiling at this remark.

"I take this as a compliment." - Lara laughed seeing how much fun Eddie had.

"I was hoping that you take it like this." - Eddie was now squarely flirting with her as he was measuring her from the corner of his eye. Lara was quite surprised about herself that the whole thing was not at all against her will, Winston may have been right that she only had to go out into the world. "It will be refreshing to work with you after those lots of men. You'll see that only apathetic guys are sitting in the office. Of course apart from me." - he continued. "We will come along just fine together." - he added with a grin.

"I'm sure about that." - Lara said absently and a smile crossed her face.

...

"This is it." - the man stopped in front of a tall building a little out of downtown. "I hope you like it. Not very luxurious but it is quiet and close to the office." - Eddie continued.

"Do not worry, I have no excessive demands." - Lara smiled as he again ran around the car and opened the door for her. "That's really kind of you." – she thanked for the gallantry.

"I'll help you with your bags." - Eddie grabbed the luggage and had already started inside to open the door for her. Lara stepped into the forefront and looked around curiously. The man hurried over to the counter and had already obtained the room key. "We've arranged everything in advance to avoid having to spend your time with this." - Eddie said as he handed the key to Lara. "After you, Ms Croft" – he escorted Lara to the elevator. After going along the corridor they stopped in front of the room nr. 21. "Do you mind?" - Eddie gently took the keys from her, while his fingers almost imperceptibly stroked Lara's hand. For a moment their eyes met and then Lara entered the room, Eddie after her without waiting for the woman to invite him in. Lara lifted an eyebrow to this but then decided not to deal with it any further, the American apparently had other ideas of the etiquette. She would not want to spend much time here anyway, wanting to reach the office as soon as possible to find out what this whole thing was about. "You can change if you want, I wait for you." - he offered with a smile.

Against her will Lara was entertained by his candour, she had not even realised how much she had missed it to be noticed by a man, how much she had missed to see some new faces, to get out of the familiar environment. Eddie was nice, open and apparently tried to do everything to please her. "Okay." - Lara replied while searching her bag for a few clothes. "Give me a few minutes and I'm ready." - she added closing the bathroom door behind her.

Eddie was walking around in the small room with satisfaction, he did not regret anymore that he was sent off to the airport to pick up the woman. There was not a big competition in the office who wanted to take the job, somehow everyone was expecting some boring old lady from a university. Instead, a hot chick entered the waiting room, Eddie did not even remember when he had last seen such a pretty woman. And yet she was also charming and funny, he was delighted. As he passed next to her open bag, he looked with amazement at the weapon peeping out from under the clothes, he immediately recognized it. _What does an archaeologist need a Desert Eagle for?_ - the thought crossed his mind. His interest for the woman was more and more attracted.

"Do you also work for the MI6?" – he asked a little louder so that Lara could hear him through the door too.

"No, I have nothing to do with them. I am only as an expert in this." - he heard the woman's muffled voice. "And you? I can hear that you are American. How did you get to the MI6?" – the woman countered.

"I work for the CIA. We cooperate with the British in this case." – Eddie explained. Lara was a little surprised, Delaney did not tell her that others were also involved in the matter. "Tell me a little about yourself" - Eddie asked cheerfully.

"What do you want to know?" - the woman asked absent-mindedly while buttoning her pants on the hips. The man's undisguised interest still made her smile. How different he was than the English, who always kept a distance of two steps and only asked polite questions.

"Everything there is to know." - she heard the man's sardonic tone from the room. "Is there a Mr Croft?" - Eddie asked curiously. Surprisingly Lara was not at all annoyed by his question, his behaviour even had a refreshing effect on her. After some hesitation she decided that she would still close one more button on her top. She took one look into the mirror and after she was satisfied with what she saw, she stepped out of the bathroom.

"Of course there is a Mr Croft." – she replied simply as she stood in the doorway and watched with delight that frustration was running over the man's face. "But if you want to know whether I'm married, then the answer is no." - Lara said jokingly. Eddie's face once again delighted and he looked approvingly on the woman, who looked stunning in the white short-sleeved shirt and the pair of brown pants, which was straining almost as a second skin on her body. "I get together a few things and I'm ready to go." - Lara said and began searching her bag again.

"What would you say if I invite you to a drink in the evening?" - Eddie came closer to her while hopefully looking at the woman who smiled warmly.

"Don't you think that it's a little bit too early for a date yet?" - Lara countered gently. Eddie apparently did not share that opinion but he nodded understandingly. "But you will be the first one to call if I fancy a drink." - Lara added to resolve the situation a bit.

"I hope so." - Eddie laughed and they walked from the room while he slid his hand gently on her back without crossing the boundaries of civility.

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The few minutes' journey to the office passed with a pleasant chat, Lara got out of the car in good spirits in front of the building, where the two agencies were operating from. Currently disguised as an import-export company they were trying to collect as much information as possible.

"We organised a short meeting with everyone so that you can see the whole team." - Eddie said as they were getting inside in the corridor. "We are not many, it is not going to be hard to remember everyone. You already know those anyway who are worth to note." - he joked.

They entered the room where about ten people were sitting around a table. At the door a tall man was standing, who came straight to Lara while Eddie joined the team.

"I'm glad you arrived ok." - the man greeted her. "My name is Newman, feel free to call me Frank, I run this place. Let me introduce them briefly." - Frank turned to the others. Lara's eyes ran down the faces, there was only one woman among them, the others were all men in their thirties, almost without exception. And then she saw the face in the corner that she would not have expected in her wildest dreams. First she thought that she was out of her mind and only her imagination was playing with her but no matter how much she tried to dispel the image, it did not want to change. Simon Hanningham was sitting only a few meters away from her and looked at her stiffly. Suddenly thousands of feelings ran through Lara, she could not even have named all of them. Meanwhile, as if he would have been miles away from her, she heard Frank's voice as he began to speak.

"Dave and John work for the CIA, you already know Eddie." - Lara automatically nodded towards the men while she tried to cover the surprise on her face and look neutral. "Natalie, our liaison." - Lara shook hands with the woman, who was several years older than she. "Karl and Will provide technical assistance to us. If you have any problem, do not hesitate to ask them." - Lara was welcomed by them but the tension was increasingly growing in her as they approached the last three men. She was sure that everyone was aware of her bewilderment, everyone was able to read on her face though such an indifferent expression was sitting on it that no one noticed anything. "Last but not least, James, Mike and Simon from the MI6." - The two men warmly welcomed the woman, who eventually stepped in front of Simon and then as if time had stopped. Their eyes met but nothing was said from either side. Only a little flutter in the man's eyes disclosed that they knew each other at all but this was realized by no one else but Lara, only because she knew him like no one else. Lara forced herself to shake hands with him, she could not afford it not to welcome him the same way as all the others. As if his touch had burned her skin, she wanted at the same time that he would let go of her immediately and that the touch never ceased.

"Lady Croft." - Simon greeted her as if they had never met in their lives, as if those wild, overwhelming six months they spent together had never existed, as if they had not meant anything to each other. Lara withdrew her hand, turned away and feigned indifference but inside she was boiling with rage. _How can anyone be so heartless? But if that's the case, then we can play this game_ - she decided to herself. She would have loved to immediately pack her bags and disappear even from the continent but she could not do so. Yet she felt Simon's gaze on her back but did not turn around. All her detriments erupted in her, she wanted the man to suffer, just as she had suffered, to feel what he had lost, wanted him to remember how it was with her and that he would never get it back. She wanted revenge, revenge for the empty look that welcomed her, for the months she spent trying to forget him and for being so hurt that the man had apparently so easily got over her.

"Come on, I show you the offices and briefly tell you how things look at the moment." - Frank ushered her out of the room. Lara felt as if she had no idea what was happening around her, as if someone had sucked all the oxygen out of the room and she would not get air. As she stepped out into the corridor, she took such a deep breath as though she had just broken to the surface after spending several minutes under water.

"Would you excuse me for a moment?" - Lara blurted out suddenly and without waiting for an answer she rushed towards the bathroom. As she entered, she leaned against the door as she was fleeing from something, with trembling fingers she locked the door behind her and just tried to breathe. She was panting as hard as is she had run the marathon. She approached the basin and both her arms supported on it to maintain herself. With furious eyes she looked in the mirror and hated herself that she reacted this way. _Pull yourself together! He must not see it that he still has such an effect on you! _– she said almost aloud but at the last moment she managed to restrain herself. _Apparently you do not mean anything to him, do not make a fool of yourself!_ - but her mirror-image did not answer, it only stared back at her wildly. Lara closed her eyes and washed her face with cold water, while she took deep breaths to calm down. _Just another one of those silly men who have played with you_ – she tried to convince herself though she knew that she would not manage. The thoughts and emotions were swirling in her mind, she knew she could not stay in the bathroom for hours. _Simply ignore him and that's it ... just as if he did not exist ... as if he had never existed ... you do not exist for him either._ She dried her face, cast a glance in the mirror and hardened herself. "He will regret it ..." - she whispered softly, then turned around and forced a smile on her face. This was taught to her very well in those prestigious schools. Never show emotions, no matter how happy you are ... or how much it hurts. When she stepped out the door and joined Frank, no one could have noticed anything of her former discomposure, she was seemingly effortless and relaxed, exactly as if she had not just bumped into the one man, who had hurt her more than anyone before.

::::::::::

The small group began an excited conversation when Frank and Lara left the room. It was as if everyone suddenly had started to talk at the same time, only Simon did not speak a word. Watching the others, he was trying to make out what they were saying. He heard how Eddie was bragging that Lara liked him so much how well they got along and what a fantastic woman she was_. If only you knew_ ... Simon thought. Of course the other two Americans wanted to know everything, they were eagerly questioning their fellow, who was teasing them further by saying that Lara promised him to drink something with him one evening, which was of course an exaggeration but the others did not know it anyway. Simon found himself wanting to go over to him and punch the young Americans but he only kept watching him more and more pungent.

"What do you think?" – he heard the question from the distance and the subsequent silence made Simon look up and realize that Mike was talking to him.

"I'm sorry, what did you ask, I did not listen." - Simon looked at him absently.

"I can see she turned your brain too." - Mike joked as he loosely nudged Simon's arm. The man just came to the conclusion that the conversation was probably going on about Lara here too. But what else could have been the topic, the woman just had such an effect on every man, even if she did not do it deliberately. "The girl is really not bad, we should have tried a bit harder yesterday. It really would be a shame to waste this opportunity on this Eddie guy." - Simon felt such a jealousy of those comments, he did not even know he was capable of but he just looked at the others with bored face.

"I was not really taken by her. She seems to be a cold person." – he replied briefly. "I do not think it would be worthwhile to deal with her, nobody does matter to her but her job." – he added but instantly regretted the remark. He did not want if anyone had found out that he had anything to do with Lara. If he managed to avoid her, everything would be fine. With great difficulty he had got to the point where he no longer thought of her all the time, now she had to turn up exactly at this place …right here. How was this possible?

"I do not know who you have met before but this girl was kind of decent with everyone. She does not seem cold at all." – James replied. "By the way, I would not mind helping her feel like at home at all." – he smiled sardonically, Simon's hands clenched behind his back, all his will-power was needed to restrain himself. "Does anyone know how long she will stay here?" - James asked the question, not without any ulterior motives.

"Ask the American. As I can hear he has quite properly questioned her already." - Mike teased him. "If I understand well, she already invited him to her room." – he added with an evil grin. Simon raised up his head and looked angrily towards Eddie, who was eager to continue telling his stories to the others. He was sure that not even half of it was true what the man was saying but it still made him nervous .. _Lara is not like that_… he tried to convince himself, not even knowing why. The only luck was that the previous day, Frank told them that an expert would join the group. As he heard the name it made him grasp in disbelieve. The others were apparently not enthusiastic about it, they had no idea who the woman was. From this moment Simon was only preparing how it would be when he would see her, if she would be standing in front of him, if he had to touch her. He could not imagine what would have happened if he had not have known in advance that she would come and suddenly Lara had just entered the room. Even this way it caused him endless difficulties not to react on her, just as if he had been tortured .. those eyes, those lips, that body ...

...

The following hours were dragging as slowly as if time had stopped. Simon absolutely could not concentrate on the job, he was just staring at the monitor and had no idea what was on it. Frank and Lara were still sitting in his office and studied something very intently. Simon would have loved to just watch her but he tried not even to look that way not wanting to make his own situation harder. After he could not do anything, he jumped up from his seat and went out in front of the building to catch some fresh air. He just wanted to go back to his place when he noticed that the boss's door opened. He could not have explained to himself why but he suddenly jumped behind the first door that he saw in the hallway. Through the crack he saw Lara and Frank leaving the office, the woman was carrying a pile of files. They shook hands and Lara started down the corridor towards Simon. He acted almost without thinking.

Lara had just felt someone grabbing her arm and pulling her into a small room. In surprise she almost dropped the files from her hand, yet had no the time to speak. When she looked up, he stood in front of her in full life-size ... Simon Hanningham.


	3. Chapter 3

"What the hell are you doing here?" - Simon whispered angrily so that they could not be overheard from outside. "Why did you come after me?"

"Are you crazy? I did not come after you. Why the hell did you bring me here?" - Lara countered at him angrily. She immediately started towards the door, not a moment did she want to spend alone with him but Simon stood in her way. Lara's eyes narrowed, looking at him irritably.

"I did not bring you here, I did not even know that they talked to you." - Simon jabbered.

"Of course, and I should also believe it because you say so that the MI6 just woke up one morning and jumped to the conclusion that it would be just so great to involve me in anything like this." - Lara was almost shouting, but restrained herself. "You put them on my neck, I hope you enjoy yourself."

"Aren't you a little cocky? Not everything is all about you." - Simon snapped though he instantly regretted having said that, but he could not change it anymore. He saw that Lara's face instantly changed at this note and for a moment as though sorrow had ran through it. But it disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared, it may have been just his imagination.

"Then why are you forcing it? You do not need to talk to me if it's such a burden for you. Leave me alone!" – her voice changed and Lara's look was so stern that it made Simon hesitate for a moment.

"Forgive me. Go back to your work, I will not bother you again." – he told her indifferently but he still did not take his eyes off her, trying to analyse her every flutter. They were just staring at each other, the tension grew in the small room, almost vibrating through the air but none of them surrendered and walked away. Then suddenly the door opened and Natalie came in, but she immediately stopped as she saw them and felt the rigidity in the air.

"Sorry!" – she said quickly and backed out right away.

"No problem, I just showed the copiers to Lady Croft." - Simon tried to save the situation, but he knew that the woman did not believe any word of it.

"Sure, I understand." - Natalie looked at them sympathetically, and they could only hope that some rumour would not be launched about them, even though Simon knew that she was not that kind of woman. Lara took advantage of the chance to turn, passed beside Simon, and was already out in the hallway. He was still watching her sharply when Lara noticed Eddie, who stepped out of one office, and she spoke to him instantly.

"Eddie, could you please take me back to the hotel?" - she asked the nicest way possible as she knew that Simon could hear every word, and she wanted to annoy him as much as possible.

"Of course, I would be happy to do that." - Eddie was now rushing towards her with a smile on his face and took the files from her. Lara smiled back at him, gave a piercing glance at Simon and walked out of the building with Eddie on her side.

:::::::

The afternoon passed quite uneasily, Lara tried in vain to concentrate on the files. So she was sitting in the middle of the double bed, all kinds of typed reports and photographs lay scattered around her, but she hardly got forward with them. Every time she began to read them, after a while she noticed that her eyes were just running over the lines without understanding anything of what she was seeing. Every five minutes she realised it and went back to the beginning of the text, just to get as far as the first time again. Angrily she dropped the report aside, threw herself back on the pillow and just watched the ceiling. She could not decide what she felt. Was she angry or sad? Perhaps even glad to see him again? No, she definitely was not going to become emotional now, when there would be no point, Simon did not feel anything for her anyway. It was said very clearly. As she was thinking about the past few hours, Eddie came to her mind, she smiled briefly. Despite the fact that Eddie did not conceal his intentions, he entertained her. Not to mention the fact that Simon was irritated by him that cranked her up even more not to find his approaches intrusive. Eddie had not done anything that would have exceeded the boundaries of good manners. Unlike Simon, who jumped on her in the first evening that they spent alone. It was true that she had not protested very strongly but this did not matter now. She had to bring something up against him ... Simon, Simon, Simon ... Lara shook her head angrily. _Damn, forget him finally ... Be open to other possibilities_ – she pushed herself. Guided by a sudden thought she grabbed her cell phone and dialled. After a few rings she spoke into the phone.

"How about that drink now?" – she asked without thinking further because she was afraid to change her mind if there was time to do so.

Quarter of an hour later she was sitting downstairs at the hotel bar, and listened absently to the overflowing Latin music coming from the jukebox. With a broad grin on his face Eddie entered the room, striding towards Lara, who kindly returned the smile.

"I am delighted that you called me." - he said, after settling on a stool next to her. "Come on, I invite you to something."

"If you already offered it." - Lara smiled. "I trust your choice." - she added.

"Alright" - Eddie enthused. "Let's sit over there and I bring the drinks." - Lara slid down from the chair, and he could not help running his eyes over her curves. He was not at all the sort of man fate had brought her together with in the past, but why should she not meet him? He apparently liked her, and Lara also found him sympathetic. _Go to hell, Simon!_ - she thought to herself. _He will not manage my life._

They were sipping on a margarita, Eddie was persistently quizzing her, while telling all sorts of stories about his work. Lara enjoyed that he did not know anything about her past, they did not have to talk about the usual topics why Lara crawled in ancient tombs, fled from dangerous beasts or explored mystical objects. Eddie somehow automatically assumed that she worked at a university, and had never seen anything else but books before. Lara let him believe this. It would be early enough to explain herself if something like this really took place. She did not notice how quickly time ran away, and she still had plenty to do that night. The reports were still lying there as she had left them, and she did not feel like going back to the empty hotel room at all. But she had to. Eddie just sipped his drink and looked expectantly at Lara, who did not really know what he expected from her. He moved closer to her, and Lara almost instinctively retreated a bit, which seemed to hurt him, what in the next moment she also realised.

"I'm sorry." - she said with some sadness in her voice, which also Eddie noticed. "This is all too fast for me." - he felt that Lara did not just say this to make excuses. Eddie smiled sweetly as he put down the empty glass from his hand, apparently had not given up on things yet. Lara finally slowly leaned closer to him and her lips barely touched his face. "Thank you for the lovely evening." - she whispered softly, then rose and without looking back she walked out of the bar. Eddie ran his fingers through his hair absently, while wondering what had happened now.

::::::::::

After spending the night under quite rugged circumstances Lara was rubbing her eyes in front of the mirror in the bathroom trying to put an acceptable look on her face. With great difficulty she had worked her way through all the files during the night, but had not become much wiser, there was just a lot of information swirling in her mind. She still did not really understand why the MI6 thought that she could help them in anything, but decided to give it a few more days. When she felt that she could no longer do anything for her appearance, she took her bag and the papers and walked down the hall. Eddie was already there waiting for her at the jeep in front of the hotel.

"Good morning, Ms Croft." – she was enthusiastically welcomed by the man, and Lara was pleased that there was no resentment in his voice because of the previous evening.

"Forget about this silly Ms Croft. Please call me Lara." - she smiled and saw that a cheerful grin spread over Eddie's face when he opened the car door for her.

"Right away we start with a meeting when we get there, Frank would like to hear about your plans." - Eddie said loosely, and Lara feverishly began to think what she would tell them, she still did not have any ideas what to do with the whole matter.

As they entered the small room where she had met the team the previous day, everyone was already sitting at the table. The conversation trailed off, and Lara felt that almost every pair of eyes was fixed on her. Mike jumped up and immediately offered to bring her a cup of coffee, Will pulled out a chair beside the table for her. Lara could not thank enough for all this attentiveness, apparently all the men were trying to capture her interest. Except one, who was sitting in the back corner with an impassive face, trying not even to look at her. Lara spread out her papers in front of her and began.

"I looked through the files, and I want someone to report what has happened in the last days." - she said, and looked expectantly at the others. One of the Americans replied first.

"We have been following Kowalski, and the guy had set up a camp deep in the jungle three days ago. But he did not spend a lot of time there, they already left yesterday." - Dave said simply.

"How many men does he have? Do we know what he did there?" - Lara asked eagerly.

"So far we noticed about thirty people but you never know how many there really are. They are moving quite serious equipment." - the other American answered now. Obviously it was their task was to watch Kowalski.

"How can he move such troops in the country?" - Lara raised the logical question.

"It seems there is a consent with the state, according to the papers they carry out geological explorations. In so far as we were able to hack into the administrative systems." – Will, one of the technicians explained.

"Can you show me the photos?" - Lara asked.

Will started to click around on the laptop lying on the table in front of him and after a few moments the photos appeared on the big screen. Military tents could be seen among the trees, people were roaming everywhere, large transport trucks were standing in the background. The whole thing seemed to be very well organised and ambitious, not as if only a lunatic was trying his luck. But why were they gone? Lara had only two ideas, either they had found what they were looking for, or they had realised that they were looking in the wrong place.

"I want to see the scene." - she said simply. "We need to know what they were looking for, otherwise we will not get forward." Simon raised his head almost imperceptibly to this statement, he was not at all glad about the suggestion. Who knows if Kowalski's men were still around or not.

"I think this is a rather bad idea." – he talked for the first time. "We cannot take any civilians to the place of our observations." - he added because it was the best reason, which came to his mind.

"May I ask what you would suggest then? Simon, right?" - Lara countered sarcastically. "Is there anybody on the team who can assess what they were searching after?"

"You have the photos, you will not see more than this on the spot either." - Simon snapped while holding her gaze stiffly as if the others were not even there.

"Could you tell me then why I am here? I could have looked at the photos from home." – Lara retorted. Now she could not leave it to that.

"This is a question I have also asked already but I did not get an answer." - the situation began to escalate and the others could not help noticing the differences between them. For a moment silence was sitting on the room, no one wanted to say anything. Finally Frank spoke out.

"Please, let's not fall out because of this now. I think it's a good idea for Lady Croft to take a closer look at the place, after all this is why she is here, to notice things that we do not. Dave and Eddie will accompany you to be safe. Kowalski moved on already, I do not think that it would be a dangerous undertaking." - the chief closed the debate. Simon just looked sharply at Lara, who had a satisfied smile on her face. She enjoyed the battle won against him, not that it was important for her to go out to the jungle, but she wanted to annoy him. The fact made her even happier that Eddie was going with her because she saw on Simon's face that Eddie's attempts to get close to Lara disturbed him.

"As far as I'm concerned we can leave right now." – Lara said off-hand, still watching Simon. She rose from the chair, looked at the two Americans querying, who immediately jumped up and joined her. Simon only angrily rolled his eyes and pretended not to care about the whole thing from then on.

::::::::::::

For about half an hour Lara and the two men were jolting along on the barely usable dirt roads leading into the jungle. Lara did not really say anything, she was still angry because Simon had tried to cross her. She did not understand him, but her victory made her feel somewhat better. The two Americans happily chattered, but Lara hardly listened to them. She rummaged in her bag to check whether she had everything she might need. It was a relieving feeling as her hands felt the hilt of her weapon, she did not want to lean on anyone else. If needed, she knew to protect herself, she did not need anyone else to do so. So far she had never been seriously hurt, she was not worried that this would change now. Eddie pulled the wheel aside and stopped the car under the trees.

"From here, we better walk. It's not far away anymore." – he told them and already offered a hand to help Lara out of the car. Her heavy boots landed confidently on the ground as she jumped out of the back seat. "This way!" - Eddie said, and moved towards the trees. Advancing in silence for a few minutes they cleared the path for themselves in the dense undergrowth. Dave came to a halt after a while, carefully spied out from behind the leaves, and when he found that everything was okay, he motioned them to follow.

"That's it. People camped here, you can even see the traces." - he said softly as he stepped into the clearing. Lara ran her eyes over the area and saw the places of the tents where the grass was trampled, the remains of a campfire, the tracks of the trucks. All seemed deserted, perfect silence reigned in the woods, only the squawks of the birds could be heard sometimes. Guided by curiosity Lara walked towards the middle, the two men followed her not far behind. Seemingly without any purpose she was ambling around, but in the meantime her eyes scanned everything that was there. She followed the footprints, which all led in one direction and then stopped in front of a much larger area where the grass seemed yellower than elsewhere. _This must have been Kowalski's tent_ - she thought to herself as she crouched down and touched the ground.

"I do not think you will find anything here that might be important. We already looked through everything." - Dave spoke behind her, but Lara did not even really pay attention. She knew the agents had no care for things she did, what was important to her could have slipped their attention. "All evidence indicates that he worked there behind the rocks." - Dave pointed forward beside Lara. She followed his gaze, then got up and headed in that direction. "But there's nothing but an empty cave." - he added. Lara raised an eyebrow to this statement. _Empty cave?_ - she thought to herself. _It may not be so empty_. She walked over the rocks and saw the entrance, which was at about two meters height above ground. Before the two men knew where they were, Lara had already grabbed the ledge and pulled herself up easily.

"Didn't I say she was incredible?" - Lara heard Eddie's whispering voice from below when he believed she was out of earshot. His comment made her smile absently, then she continued her way into the cave. As the sun was increasingly driven out of the opening, it was becoming darker, though the tunnel was not really deep. On the walls she could not detect anything, they seemed to have been formed by nature, who knows how long ago.

"I told you that there is nothing in here." - Dave said behind her, but Lara's trained eyes already glimpsed something. The scratches at the top of the wall on the right side were attentive, as if some heavy object had been pushed against it several times. Lara's fingers touched the stones as she walked past it and tried to put the pieces of the picture together.

"Eddie, help me up there, please!" - she said to the man, who though surprised, but walked over to her. His back propped against the wall he boosted her up. Lara grabbed the edge as he lifted her, but only saw a small dark gap in front of her. Her hands began to grope blindly in the dark, though she did not feel anything that seemed to be of interest. She had almost given up when her fingers got stuck on a strange form, some sort of an engraved figure, which seemed too regular to be the work of nature. "There is something, I need to get up there to see it." – she told Eddie, who started to get exhausted as he was holding her entire weight, but still he gathered all his strength and raised her slightly higher. Lara grabbed the rim, and it was only a matter of a few gestures to reach what she wanted. On all fours she crawled into the narrow gap, the two agents looked after her frowning as she disappeared from their sight.

"Everything okay?" - Eddie asked after a while as they had not heard anything from what they could have concluded what was happening up there.

"Sure. Could not be any better." - they heard Lara's voice above their heads, who became increasingly excited as she was examining her new discovery. "Things are right away more interesting like this." – she was thinking out loud, the two Americans only shrugged as they had no idea what she was talking about. Not much later, Lara plopped down to the floor beside them, pleased with the result, holding a piece of paper with a strange symbol in the middle of it. The two men looked at her querying, while Lara was immersed in looking at the sheet. "And yet you told me that this would be an empty cave." - she teased them laughing. "Now we can go back." - she added emphasizing the first word and started towards the exit, followed by the gaze of the two men.

"What did you find?" - Eddie ran after her dying to see what she found as Lara did not share her discovery with them.

"I'm not sure yet, but soon we will find out." - Lara said as she paused for a moment at the edge of the cliff with her hands in front of the eyes due to the strong sunlight, not knowing that not so far the crosshairs of a sniper rifle scanned her body, and then settled at the centre of her chest. An explosion of sound broke the silence of the forest.


	4. Chapter 4

The sharp pain split into her so suddenly that there was no time to cry out. Lara snatched her hand to her shoulder and dropped to the ground as the shot hit her. The two men quickly responded pulling her by one arm back into the cave, and immediately jumped for cover. Lara owed it to only a single gesture that she was still alive, as she turned towards Eddie the sunlight glinted on the glass of her lamp, which blinded the shooter exactly in the critical moment, and made him hit only her left arm. But still the bullet struck her with such a speed that it dragged her off her feet. Eddie ran to Lara, who lost consciousness for a few seconds, she was just lying on the ground and blood was flowing from her arm slowly to the floor. With a quick motion Eddie pulled off his shirt, and pressed it onto the wound, whereupon Lara hissed in pain.

"Calm down, everything will be all right." – she heard the worried voice of Eddie beside her. "Don't move, we get you out of here." – he said, while Dave yelled wildly into the radio, but they could not expect any help on such short notice. Ever since the first shot there had been total silence and peace around them, but none of them believed to have gotten away with so much. Probably the shooter was only waiting for them to leave the cave, and they might as well have tried to encircle them.

"We need to get out of here." – Dave stated nervously. "The car is not far, if we get there, we will be out of trouble." – Dave assessed the situation. "Can you walk?" – he asked Lara, almost shyly.

"Why could I not walk?" - she asked back in surprise. "I'm shot in the arm, not in my leg." - she added jokingly, almost as if talking about something perfectly ordinary. "Let's go before I lose too much blood." – she said objectively, and had already elevated from the ground, although her face showed clearly what exertion the gesture meant to her. The two men looked at her in surprise, but there was no time to contemplate. It no longer had a particular effect on them that Lara pulled out a gun from her bag, and a little forcedly, but smiled. "Now, if you don't mind, I let you go first." - she said funnily, whereupon the two men exchanged glances, and Dave started. After spying from behind the wall cautiously, he gestured, and one after the other they quickly jumped down into the grass, and then threw themselves behind the trees. The shooter did not react in time, the next shot had no chance to hit any of them. The two men stared out to where the car was left, Lara, leaning her back against a tree, her left arm tightly pressed to her side was waiting for them to go on, while trying to ignore the pain. She took a deep breath and looked up towards the sky, when from the corner of her eye she perceived some little movement. She raised her head, when she suddenly saw a uniformed figure among the trees. Almost without thinking, she targeted, and fired. Eddie only saw the armed man collapsing in the vegetation.

"Not bad. Where did you learn to shoot like this? "- he was wondering despite the fact that the situation did not really allow them to chat around.

"I'll tell you later but now let's get out of here, before they circle us in." - Lara suggested, and Dave immediately started towards the next cliff, where they could hide. The two men also began firing when they glimpsed other soldiers. The jeep was not far anymore, they just had to get through the clearing somehow, where they would become exposed to attacks though.

"I'll cover you from here, go!" - Dave whispered, as he looked at his two other two companions. "Eddie will help you, then I'll follow you. See you there." - he pointed to the other side, where they had emerged from the bushes after arriving not so long ago. "Now!" - Dave shouted, and jumped out of the cover and began to shoot without thinking. Lara and Eddie ran, as they could, but bullets rained around them, the enemy clearly outnumbered them. Lara did not even care about her injured arm anymore, but rushed and they jumped into the bushes. She landed painfully on her shoulder, whereupon the wound started to bleed stronger again, but Lara did not bother with it. Dave started to run towards them, as Eddie covered him from this side. Then she noticed the shooter, who was hiding on a high location, and Lara knew that Eddie was targeted. The blood soaked the shirt on her arm, Lara began to feel dizzy, but with great difficulty she came to her feet. With her right arm she raised her gun, and with blurring vision she tried to target. The whole thing took maybe three seconds, but she felt as if minutes had passed. Finally she pulled the trigger, the gun dragged her arm harder than usual, and then her legs surrendered, she fell to the ground and all went black around her.

:::::::::

Natalie was sitting beside the bed and watched the woman, who still lay motionless on the hospital bed. She mused for a moment, how lucky she was to get away with that much. The news spread like wildfire in the office that someone attacked them in the camp. Dave's call reached Will first, but everyone knew about it within two minutes. Frank began to take action with anxious face when he learned that Lara was shot. It would not have been very good for him, if his expert got killed right on the second day. Then they received the next message a quarter of an hour later that they managed to get away, and were on their way to the hospital. Nobody knew anything, only that she was unconscious. Eddie and Dave appeared at the office half an hour later, everyone looked at them in horror, Eddie was pure blood. The team encircled them excitedly and bombed them with questions, as they briefly reported the incident.

"I have no idea how the soldiers got there, and how they knew so quickly that we were there." - Eddie told them. "All I have noticed that they were shooting at us, but it was too late, Lara had been hit." - Simon's face nervously winced at this statement, but he said nothing. "But there will be no problem, she will be all right." - Eddie added quickly, and everyone calmed down a bit.

Natalie returned to the newspaper that she had been reading when from the corner of her eye she saw that Lara stirred on the bed. Silently she stood up and walked beside her. Lara's arm moved slightly, then her head turned to the side, as if she was dreaming. Natalie looked at her, how young she was, and how beautiful, yet so pale too. Lara's lips slightly parted, as if she wanted to say something, but only a barely audible word left her mouth.

"Si… mon ..." - she breathed. Natalie could hardly make out what she said, but she was sure to have understood well. She raised her eyebrows in surprise. It had not escaped her attention so far that there was some tension between Simon and the woman, but she did not count with this. She knew that the guys in the office would not realise that sort of things, but she noticed it right away. Natalie did not know what happened between them in the past, but she was sure that there was something that connected them. Having witnessed the scene in the afternoon and this only word, she also knew what it was. _These young people, _- she thought – _they only make things unnecessarily difficult for themselves_. With a sigh she wanted to sit back to her place when Lara once again stirred, cautiously opened her eyes and looked around in confusion.

"Calm down, dear." - Natalie spoke to her kindly, and took her hand.

"Where am I?" - Lara said softly.

"In hospital, but everything will be all right. You were lucky." - Lara touched her shoulders gently that was covered by a thick bandage, but she did not feel anything. "I think they pumped you pretty full with pain killers." - Natalie replied seeing her questioning glance. "Frank asked me to stay here with you, just to have a familiar face in the vicinity, when you wake up." - Natalie smiled sweetly.

"How long have I been here?" - Lara asked as she tried to organise her thoughts.

"Not long, only a few hours. Everyone was here visiting in the afternoon." - the woman replied.

"Everyone?" - Lara looked at her in amazement, and Natalie was very well aware what she meant, but did not show Lara that she knew about it. In the afternoon she was just returning to the room after she drank a cup of coffee on the ground floor when she noticed that someone was standing at Lara's bedside. She just opened her mouth to speak, when she realised who the stranger was. Natalie quietly backed out, the man did not even notice that she was there. Simon did not say a word, just stood there next to Lara, and looked at her face, but that was enough for Natalie to see through him. A smiled appeared on her face, and without a sound she closed the door behind her. Only after he was gone, she returned to her place.

"We were all very worried about you." – she said diplomatically, and sat on the bedside next to Lara. "You were really lucky, got away with it without any serious consequences." _Really lucky_ - her words echoed in Lara's mind.

"Thank you for staying with me." - she smiled friendly at the older woman. "But now you can go home."

"All right, sleep a bit, tomorrow evening you can already go home according to the doctors." - she replied, gathering up her things from the small table. "Good night, and relax!" – Natalie said looking back from the door, and Lara was left alone in the room.

In the silence she tried to remember what had happened, but she did not see everything clearly in front of her. She really hoped that the paper with the sign from the cave was safe. After all it was not a tragedy if it got lost, she would go back and look at it again. If you fall off the horse, you should get back to it immediately, you must not be dwelling on the past. Exactly she was saying this, who was unable to break free from a shadow of the past. She could not help thinking about it whether he was here with the others to see her. Although the whole thing probably meant nothing, he just came so that the others would not find it strange. _He would not even care if I got killed_ - she thought angrily, though she did not understand why she got ruffled about this. Irately she rose to her elbows in bed, better to say she only attempted because the gesture was accompanied by sharp pain and she fell back on the pillow. Lara settled resignedly, and closed her eyes. This time sleep did not elude her, both her body and her brain were in need of rest.

:::::::::

The next morning, she was chewing on her not really first-class breakfast lying on the bed, when she heard some silent knocking, and soon Frank's inquiring face looked through the crack of the door.

"How is our patient doing this morning?" - he asked cheerfully as he came closer. Lara smiled amiably.

"Thank you, I'm fine." - she said slowly, while he approached the bed. "It's not so easy to get rid of me." - Lara joked.

"I hope so, we were all very scared." - Frank sat in the chair beside her. He seemed to be seriously worried. "Everyone looks forward to your return to office." - he said, smiling.

"I never thanked you that you brought me out of there." - Lara looked at him kindly, as he sat there watching her, as if he could not believe that there was nothing wrong with her. _At least he is really worried about me_ - she thought to herself.

"That's really nothing, that's why I sent the boys with you." - Frank smiled. "But relax, I do not disturb you any further. Eddie comes in the evening to pick you up and bring you home." - he added, and then slowly rose from the chair, walked up woman, and put his hand on her arm. "I'm glad that you are fine." - he said warmly, then turned and left the room. Lara's just looked after him absent-mindedly.

:::::::::

The days spent in bed moved so slowly that Lara had no idea how to spend the time. The whole day she was thinking about what she saw in the cave, but she could not recall it exactly. She was not accustomed to spend the day lying in bed, but the doctors forbade her to get up before the evening. That much rest was needed, even if she was not seriously hurt. Since she was not been able to sleep, she mostly was just staring out the window and waited for time to elapse. Her shoulder still ached, but apart from that she felt completely okay. She really was lucky that the bullet only went through her shoulder, simply, without having caused serious injury. Her hand automatically slipped to the bandage, the pills started to lose their effect, but it did not bother Lara. She never liked to dampen her senses. In the afternoon a nurse came to the room, and changed the dressing on the wound, preparing her to leave. Lara could hardly wait to disappear from the hospital and return to work. The small sign in the cave definitely piqued her interest, she would have liked throw herself into the research. She was already dressed and sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for Eddie to arrive, she was relieved when he looked through the door.

"Ready?" - Eddie asked absently from the door. Lara did not answer, but began to smile. "Slow down!" – he said as she came up beside him, but Lara did not care about this, just wanted to finally escape from the captivity of the bed.

"Just take me as far as possible away from here." - she laughed, as she stepped out into the corridor next to him. Eddie cheerfully followed her to the elevator, and together they walked out into the parking lot. Eddie helped Lara into the car, although she did not need any assistance, she let him feel useful.

"Yesterday I forgot to say thanks that you saved me." – Eddie said after they started. Lara raised her eyebrows, wondering what he meant. "If you had not shot the shooter, I probably would not talk with you here." - Eddie explained. Lara began to vaguely remember something before everything went dark in front of her eyes. Would she really have hit the guy? She could not believe it.

"It seems we are even." - she smiled at Eddie, who looked back at her, but then none of them spoke a word, just quietly sat next to each other.

Eddie jumped out of the car in front of the hotel and opened the car door for her. "I walk you to your room." – he said assertively, and they went inside. Lara asked for the key, and joined him at the elevator, but still silence reigned between them. After she opened the door, Lara turned to Eddie to say good-bye, but suddenly not a single word came out of her mouth. The man stood in front of her only a few inches away and looked at her like never before. Their eyes met, and strangely Lara did not feel she wanted to get away. She leaned against the door frame resignedly and let the man's face move a little closer to hers. Eddie approached so slowly, as if he expected her to change her mind any second. A faint smile appeared in the corner of Lara's lips, she felt his picked up breath on her skin, tilted her head slightly to the side, and finally their lips met. First, just so gently, that they hardly touched each other, Eddie' lips stroked over hers, as Lara closed her eyes. But as much as she wanted, she did not feel the buzz, the desire that she had felt there in that small hotel room when Simon pulled her to him, and his lips joined hers. Suddenly she saw him in front of her, he kissed her, his hands touched her and she unnoticed reacted to the memory. Then the realization burst into her with such force that she started, which of course did not escaped Eddie's attention either. Lara pushed him away, and without looking at him, she rushed into the room slamming the door behind her.

Like a hunted animal she stopped behind the door, praying in herself that the man would not try to come after her. Simply she would have been unable to explain her behaviour, she wanted to see no one. Eddie was trying to flirt with her squarely ever since she arrived, which of course did not escape her attention. However, she did not try to stop him, she enjoyed striking back to Simon a bit, showing him that he no longer meant anything for her. Still she could not get rid of his memory, and realised this at the moment when Eddie kissed her, and she cursed herself for letting things come to such a pass. She wanted to escape from Simon so much, and yet he did not let her rest. Even then she could not get him out of her mind when another man was kissing her. Clutching her injured shoulder, still leaning against the door she slid down to the ground, and fumed in anger. _Why did I have to come here? Why did I have to see him again when I was almost over him? Why? Why? But first of all why do keep lying to myself?_ She was so angry that she wanted to kick something, so she just sat there on the floor and waited to calm down somewhat, while outside it got completely dark. Fortunately Eddie did not come after her, she had no idea what she would tell him the next day if they meet, but she did not want to deal with it at the moment. Her shoulder ached more and more, she rummaged her pocket and pulled out a small plastic vial, which she got in the hospital. With great difficulty she rose to her feet, went to the sink and swallowed the pill, while she felt like breaking the mirror on the wall, so as not to even see herself. Falling gently on the bed she just waited for the drug to take effect, and wash away the pain, although she knew that it could bring salvation only to her body, not to her mind.

Eddie smiled, his face came closer and closer, until it filled the entire space in front of her eyes. But the picture started to blink, and the man's features began to change, suddenly Simon stood in front of her. The two faces were flashing in front of her eyes in turns, and Lara just stared in horror. Her body felt like floating, she had no idea what was happening to her. Familiar hands captured her, someone pulled her to him, his touch burning her skin, however, still it caused such pleasure that she had not felt for a long time. As if a snake had twisted up on her body, its forked tongue tickling her skin, then the animal suddenly transformed, and in the next moment Simon's body pressed against hers, and his lips were moving up inch by inch on her belly, just like that night. He laughed wickedly, his eyes glowed red, and just laughed and laughed, Lara could not get rid of him ...

Lara sat up in bed so suddenly that she did not even grasp what happened to her, gasping, her body bathed in sweat. The dream was still floating in front of her eyes, she still felt the hands and Simon's lips on her, like it really had taken place. Due to the sudden movement her shoulder ached even more, throbbing pain ran through her whole body, but still she could not concentrate on anything else, Simon filled her thoughts. Shouting angrily she then picked up the first object that her hand caught and threw it to the full extent against the opposite wall.

"Get out of my dreams!" - she shouted lustily, as the glass broke into tiny shards and the carpet at the end of the bed was covered by the small fragments of glass.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, when the others began to arrive in the office, Lara was already sitting at the computer, and intensely searching the database. Not having been able to sleep, she decided not to torture herself, and instead return to work. She spread out the paper with the sign in front of herself and tried to make out what it depicted. It could have been something like a ship, but she could not really make it out. She raised her head as she heard people coming. The Americans greeted her warmly when they arrived, everyone had a kind word or two for her. Eddie, however, only smiled broadly and sat down to his place, Lara knew she would have to talk to him, but she did not know what to say. At this moment Simon and the two other Englishmen stepped into the office, and they also came over to her.

"How do you feel?" - Mike asked.

"Thank you. A few days, and I can forget about it." - Lara responded with a smile, while trying to avoid Simon's look.

"Shouldn't you still be in bed? Gunshot wounds are nothing to play with." - Simon snapped, seemingly just to annoy her.

"Not everyone is so weak to spend weeks in bed due to a scratch." - Lara retorted, and again their eyes met for a moment, but this time Simon did not continue to battle, just shrugged his shoulders, and went over to his desk. Lara eventually turned to the screens again, and continued her research.

"Will, would you please scan and correct this drawing as much as possible? I would like to compare it with my database." – she went over to one of the technicians to get some help.

"Sure, give me half an hour and you get it." - he responded enthusiastically, and took the sheet from her. Lara, having been forced to wait, walked over to the small kitchen to drink a cup of tea, but only found steaming coffee in a machine. She just put back the tank to the machine, when Eddie joined her. It could be seen on his face that he did not turn up accidentally, he was waiting for the opportunity to stay alone with the woman.

"How are you?" – he asked with a confident grin on his face. Lara took no notice on him that anything would have happened between them, the same sardonic smile was hiding in the corner of his mouth as always. Lara turned and leaned against the counter with the mug in her hand and looked at him apologetically.

"I know I owe you an explanation." - she began, not even addressing the previous question, because she was sure that this was not what Eddie wanted to know, but the man interrupted her before she could say anything.

"You don't have to say anything." - the man cut in and walked up to her. He took the coffee cup from her and put it down to the kitchen counter, while not taking his eyes off her. "We don't need words now." - he added, as his hand slid around her waist. His fingers stroked her face gently, then leaned over and whispered something in her ear so softly that she could barely even hear it, but what he said, brought a smile on her face.

"Eddie, you're impossible." - Lara laughed, and gently nudged the man, who just grinned at her unchanged.

"But you don't really want to change me, right?" - Eddie joked. He just wanted to add something still when Simon appeared at the door, then he immediately came to a halt as he saw them together. Lara looked at him over Eddie's shoulder, and for a moment their eyes met.

"Sorry." - he muttered under his breath, and accompanied by a piercing look he immediately left them alone.

"I don't know what's wrong with this guy." - Eddie said absently. "Previously, he seemed to be pretty okay."

"Yes, he used to be ..." - Lara mused to herself, not really listening to what slipped out of her mouth, but fortunately Eddie did not notice anything.

::::::::::

Frank convened another meeting later in the afternoon, where the main topics were the observation of Kowalski and the sign found by Lara. The man assigned the tasks at short notice, the Americans kept watching Kowalski, while the technicians would help Lara to decipher the signal. The MI6 continued the other kind of research, finding out every possible thing about Kowalski, to whom he was connected, who he spoke to recently, if he paid a large sum to anyone lately. And help Lara if needed. _That's just great_ - Simon thought to himself. He would have preferred to join the observers. After this Eddie and the others stood up and left to follow the traces of Kowalski. Lara still exchanged a few words with Frank, then she returned to her laptop.

Meanwhile, Will was ready with the imprint, he had done a great job. As she looked at the drawings, Lara was more and more confident that it was a sailing boat. It would have been great to have her library at her disposal, but now she had to get along with the tools, which were available. Will managed to produce a high resolution digital version, which filled the whole screen in front of Lara's face. Since at the moment she had no idea where to even start, she just stared at the monitor, observing every little detail of the image. A circular impression of a sailing ship occupied the central portion, with sails swollen with pride, and some abstract pattern circled around it, but Lara could not make out any text that would be hidden in it. Connecting the machine to the network, she entered her home database through the multi-level security system and launched an analysis program, which ran through a lot of data, trying to identify the drawing. Thousands of different graphics were spinning in front of her eyes, which appeared for such a short time that one could not even grasp what they depicted.

Lara watched them for a while, but then she started to feel dizzy from even looking at them, so she turned her gaze away from the display, and carefully glanced around the room. The two technicians were immersed in some discussion putting their heads together, Mike was just coming back from the printer to his place. As he noticed her, he smiled amiably. Lara returned the gesture with caution, and as she turned her head, the next figure caught her eyes that seemed to be completely absorbed in watching the monitor. If that was possible Simon looked even better than ever, Lara found as she looked at his body. Through the thin linen shirt she could suspect his muscles, he did not seem to have neglected training ever since. Slight stubble appeared on his face as usual that Lara had always found so exciting on him, it gave such character to his features, which was hard to resist. Then as if Simon had felt that someone was watching him, he raised his head, but when he looked there, Lara was already staring thoughtfully on the screen, giving no sign that she would have done anything else in the last quarter-hour.

The search did not bring up a specific match, but a lot of partial results appeared on the screen, Lara began to examine them. For a longer time she did not discover anything remarkable, often enough the only similarity between the two figures was that both of them were round. Of course, the software showed stamps of all kinds, but most of them did not resemble in any way to hers. She put her elbow on the table and propped her head with one hand while her right hand was clicking bored with the mouse, the images raced in front of her eyes quicker and quicker, after half an hour she could not even pay attention to what she was seeing. Suddenly however, a strange feeling overcame her, as if subconsciously she had been confident that the solution was right in front of her and she did not notice it. She went back through the last pictures that she had looked at and leaned towards the monitor. And then she realised it, she did not even understand how she could have run through it so easily. The picture showed perfectly the same vessels as on the seal, the two drawings were identical, which could not be a coincidence. Her eyes ran over the text below the image: _Cortes' ship runs into the colonies_ - it stood there in small print. Lara raised her eyebrows and stared out of the window thoughtfully.

_So it's Cortes_ - the thought crossed her mind. _But if I'm right, he never came so much to the south_ - Lara thought to herself. _What the hell is his seal doing here?_ After quickly entering the name in the database's search box, she waited. Millions of hits came up of course, she had no chance to look through them all. Impulsively she added Panama next to the name, and again waited. It took less than half a minute when the result appeared in front of her. She could only see a short entry, which was barely usable information, it raised her interest though. _Could this be a credible source?_ – she asked the question, her eyes narrowed as she considered the result. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she almost did not even notice James coming towards her. She could not have explained why, but with a click she had the document disappear from the screen so that he could not see it.

"How's your research going?" - James asked curiously, with arms crossed and leaned against the edge of the desk.

"I have not put everything together yet, I need a little more time. Not too much information is available at the moment." - Lara replied kindly, and eased back on her chair to be able to turn towards the man.

"Can I help you with anything?" - James looked at her, smiling. So far, he really had shown no interest in her work, Lara knew that this pledge was mainly thanks to the fact that the Americans were not present. "The boys can do their jobs without me." – he grinned, obviously enjoying the situation, that he was the first one to have this idea. Lara looked up shortly, and was pleased to find that Simon did not take his eyes off them, though he pretended as if he nothing better to do.

"Very kind of you, I just ..." – Lara started, but she could not continue because Frank's office door flew open, and he nervously swept out on it. Everyone raised his head and looked at him in surprise.

"Dave just called in, they have lost Kowalski." – he said angrily. "It's as if the earth had swallowed him together with his whole damn army. How could this happen?" - Frank was furious.

"Damn. I said we should not entrust this to the Americans." - Simon said irritably, but Lara could see it on his face that the CIA's mistake filled him with some satisfaction.

"I think now we need you more than before." - Frank turned to Lara. "You must find out where they went." – he said simply, as if Lara could just easily read the answer from a map. "Every tool is at your disposal, everyone is working on this!" - he turned to the team, and not waiting for anyone to speak, he rushed back to his office and slammed the door behind him. Silence was filling the room for a short while, everyone was just staring, waiting for the others to say something.

"Will, analyse the satellite images." - Simon suddenly seized control. "Such a troop does not disappear without any trace." - Without thinking he was handing out instructions, and Lara was surprised to see that no one objected, without a word they followed his orders. One name did not leave his mouth though, notably Lara's.

"And what are your plans with me, agent Hanningham?" - Lara looked at him defiantly, and she enjoyed that Simon hesitated for a moment hearing the slightly ambiguous question.

"You just continue what you have done so far, Miss Croft." - Simon replied with mild sarcasm. "Just leave the field work to us." – he said not without any ulterior motive. Lara's face winced in a barely noticeable way, their eyes met furiously for the umpteenth time, and then he swept out of the room in Mike's company to join the Americans.

"Forgive him, courtesy is not one of his strengths." - James said, who was still standing next to Lara.

"Do not apologise, this guy does not interest me, whatever he says." - Lara snapped off-hand, while her fingers were pressing the pencil in her hand with such a rigid force that it eventually broke in two.

"I can see that." – James muttered under his breath that probably Lara did not even hear, as she was just staring at the blank monitor furiously, as if anything could be seen on it, her hands still clutching at the half pencil.

::::::::::::

The rest of the day everyone had worked intently, but almost nothing progressed. Lara read the short document she found a thousand times, searched for some data the whole day that would support her theories. After returning to the hotel, she spent the night trying to piece together the facts and legends, she woke up among the papers the next morning fully dressed. The first thing that caught her eyes as she opened them was the laptop screen, which was lying a few inches in front of her on the bed, with an image of a gulf on it. The scenery was beautiful, just like a postcard. Sparkling blue sea, which almost merged with the blue of the sky and radiated such calmness, as if people had not even existed in the vicinity. Lara sat up in bed blinking and trying to organize her thoughts. She did not really remember what she had studied late at night half asleep. Under her elbow there was a strongly curled sheet, which was scribbled full with her handwriting. Thinking through what she had noted the previous evening she then picked up the phone and dialled.

"Natalie?" – she talked into the phone. "Please tell the others that I need to take care of something this morning, I'll come to the office later." – Lara said and after waiting for a short answer she cut the line.

She climbed out of bed, every movement was followed by loud rustling of paper, but she did not care about crumpling the notes. She already knew everything she needed to know. It did not even occur to her to share her discovery with the agency, at the end yet again they would put someone on her neck, and lucky as she was, it would be even Simon. And there was no need for this. She'd rather go alone, as always. At least she could count on herself, not like on others. After entering the bathroom she threw off her clothes, and then stepped in the shower. As the hot water was flowing down the body, only one thing was flashing in her mind.

_I need to get a boat._ - she thought to herself.


	6. Chapter 6

Not much later, Lara was already down in the street outside the hotel, trying to find a taxi, which was not really an easy undertaking in the morning rush hour. Finally, after a few minutes she managed to flag down an empty car, and vigorously got in to the back seat.

"Take me to the port, please." – she told the driver in an almost accent free Spanish, while rummaging in her bag to make sure that in the big rush she had taken everything she could need. The car inched into the traffic, Lara watched the area with interest for a while, but then she got more and more absorbed in her thoughts. In vain she tried to concentrate on anything else, just in a short time Simon was on her mind again. She would have liked to snap him in the office, when just like many times before, he again behaved as if she was a stranger to him. Although she had to admit that she did not want everyone to gossip about what had happened between them in the past. So it was better for everyone, but why he could not behave at least not hostile towards her, that she could not understand. The last night they had spent together still lived vividly in her memory. _God, as if it had been a thousand years ago_ - she thought to herself. And yet she remembered every touch, every word that was said. Each word that had left their mouths, and every single word that they had not said. Just a couple of sentences, and still they had ruined everything. She could not comprehend how that perfect harmony between them could have fallen apart so fast, how that smouldering fervour from just minutes before could have disappeared so suddenly, frozen as if it had never existed. She had seen the disappointment in his eyes as he had looked at her, she had heard the door bang, as it had smashed behind him, and Lara had been lying on the bed, which had witnessed so much passion, and yet so quickly cooled off, as if summer had suddenly turned to winter.

"We have arrived." - the driver said, as he turned around, and Lara was dragged straight back into the present. The woman looked at him for a moment, as if not understanding what he had said, but she quickly shook her head and forced a smile on her face.

After getting out of the car, she deeply breathed in the salty sea air, which pierced her lung, and immediately made her feel a bit better. Nevertheless, her fingers were still playing a bit nervously on the handle of her bag when she set off towards the pier. A pleasant sea breeze was blowing, which somewhat decreased the heat, a seagull was circling in the sky over her head. She went to the first fisherman, who she saw, and on her question the man showed in the opposite direction. Lara thanked him and set off the coastal road. Not long after that she saw a small stall in the sand, pulled the blinds, and entered the small room. Inside she only found a single counter that had seen better days, on which a middle-aged man was leaning, submerged in a newspaper. A worn-out ceiling fan was spinning steadily round and round, although the air was so sultry as if it had not been there at all.

"How can I help?" - the guy asked without even looking up to the newcomer. Bored he turned to the next page.

"I need a boat and equipment." - Lara said without making a big fuss. Hearing the woman's voice he looked up for the first time. After measuring her briefly, he then bowed his head again without showing any particular enthusiasm.

"It won't be cheap." - the guy replied, and continued to read the newspaper, as if nothing had happened. Lara walked over, and without a word she threw a bundle of banknotes on the counter.

"Is that enough?" - she asked coolly. The man's face brightened at once, and a broad smile appeared on his lips revealing his yellow teeth.

:::::::::::::

The boat was no longer a new piece, but adequate for the purpose, Lara did not come for an excursion. Pushing the lever forward, the engine roared up, and the boat moved towards open water. The sea undulated slightly, pushing against the hull from time to time as the speed increased. Lara spread the map and the GPS in front of her, and steered the boat into direction. She loved the speed, as the wind blew in her hair, no matter if it was a boat, a bike or car, she just wanted to feel the danger. Although she handled each vehicle so securely, as if she had been born for it, it was in her blood. Getting closer to her target, the small indicator of the destination point was flashing faster and faster on the display. She pulled back the arm, the boat slowed down, and infinite silence surrounded her as the engine stopped. Lara ran her gaze over the horizon, but did not see any other boat on the water, in the distance the contours of the bay, which was shown on the photograph, outlined.

_Better be careful_ - she thought, and placed the little red-white flag on the boat, then jumped down the steep staircase to reach the lower level. With skilled movements she checked the diving equipment, and then began to peel off her clothes, taking care not to damage the wound on her shoulder, which was still not completely healed. After pulling up the diving suit till her waist, she then returned to the oxygen bottle. She took the diving mask, then walked to the water, and dipped it in to avoid any problems with the vapour later. Gently she pulled on the upper part of the suit, which fortunately sealed hermetically, solving the problem with the bandage on her shoulder. When all was done, Lara approached the end of the boat, tested the tube in her mouth, whether it worked, then simply stepped into the water, and immediately went under.

The silence became suddenly depressing, all noise ceased around her, Lara only saw the blue water. Near the surface, some light still filtered in, but as she went down, the water was becoming darker, almost impenetrable. Lara turned on the lights attached to her body, and only kept swimming downwards. The sun light disappeared completely, she could hardly see a meter in front of her. She looked a bit alarmed on the depth-meter on her wrist, as she was slowly approaching the level one could still dive safely. She stopped for a moment at eighty feet, and tried to look around, but there was almost nothing to see. Holding the light in front of her as far as possible, she tried to make out her surroundings, when she saw something that seemed to promise some hope. The top of a mast showed up in front of her, Lara immediately swam towards it and smiled with satisfaction. Her fingers touched the rotting wood, on the top of which some unrecognisable rests of a flag were carried slowly by the drifting of the water. Lara knew she found what she was looking for, with a sudden motion she changed direction and swam sharply downwards along the thick wooden rod until she reached the deck. Her body was waving gracefully in the water as if it had been her natural element.

Stopping for a moment she looked at the depth-meter, she was close to the hundred feet, but nothing could stop her anymore. It was not the first time she dove so deep, she knew it would not cause a problem, if there was enough time to slowly rise back to the surface. She began to feel the pressure exerted on her by the water, but did not deal with it, she was breathing just as calmly, the bubbles rose up gaily, as she exhaled. Scanning the area she looked around and saw the trapdoor, which led into the body of the ship, it caused no problem to open it. Carefully she swam in, making sure of every move, to avoid the rotten timber hurting her somewhere. The ocean had taken control of large parts of the wreck, aquatic plants appeared, green layer of something moss-like covered the wooden elements, sometimes small fish swam through. Only her own breathing and the sound of the air bubbles could be heard. Balancing with her arms Lara looked around. It was hard to judge whether a storm had caused damage to the ship, or just time and the salty water had done their jobs. _I need to find the captain's cabin, what I'm looking for must be there _- she thought, and slowly, taking care of everything kept swimming. Suddenly she raised her head, as in the corner of her eye she became aware of something moving, but then decided not to care about it, certainly it was a fish. In the light of the lamp a beautifully carved door appeared, that is to say what was left of it. _This will be it_ – Lara decided, and proceeded to the door to burst the two wings open to pass through it.

Lara had never heard of this ship's existence, no history book wrote about it that Cortes had ever led any expedition to this area. Although it did not really surprise her, if there was something mysterious about it, then surely it was kept secret. But so far she had no idea what this secret could have been. She hoped, however, to find the answers to her questions in this lost wreck. The cabin was found in a huge mess, the remains of the furniture were thrown back-up lying on the floor, most of them broken into pieces. On the wall an unrecognisable piece of art was still hanging, mostly only possible to realise that it once was a painting due to the frame. As she looked around with the lamp, Lara's eyes again perceived some motion in a small window, as if a dark shadow had been passing by on the outer side. Pondering she swam there for a moment, but she could see nothing but the blue. Lara shrugged and returned her attention to the furniture. Pulling out a knife she prized open one cabinet door, but only some rotten books fell out of it that were good for nothing. She looked at every corner, but the only thing she found was a medium-sized silver box. Having no idea what was in it, Lara slipped it in her belt.

Then again she felt that something was not right, as fast as she could she spun in the water and another diving mask was staring back at her from very close. Lara responded immediately, stabbing with the knife in her hand, but the man was quick and caught her wrist before she could have attacked him. The sudden movement stirred the sand settled on the floor, yet not even as much could be sees as before. All slowed down, as if the two figures had been fighting in slow motion in the water. Lara pulled her legs forward, stretched them against the man's body and pushed him away. From the momentum he drifted back against the column in the middle of the cabin, which displaced under his weight, and the ceiling behind them collapsed, blocking the way out. Lara, taking advantage of the confusion, suddenly got in front of the diver, and again attacked with the knife, but he swayed at the last minute, so the blade missed the target, and cut the oxygen supply tube instead. The bubbles were flowing with such power through the gap as if the water was boiling. The diver stared in horror, because he knew not much time was left. Lara was aware that the wound inflicted on the equipment was fatal, the man threw off the bottle, and swam towards Lara, who instinctively backed away. She did not know why, but directed the light at him as if to stop him, but when she saw him, her eyes widened in surprise. Eddie's frightened eyes looked back at her from behind the mask, Lara was pulled up short for a moment. _What the hell are you doing here?_ - the question ran through her mind. But then just as quickly she retained her composure, swam over to him, and then slipped her own mouth piece into his mouth so that he could breathe again. All sorts of emotions were swirling in her eyes: reprimand, fear, surprise, perhaps even anger as well. The only thing on her mind was that they had to get out as quickly as possible, because the oxygen was surely not enough for long for two people.

Breathing through the second mouth piece, Lara looked around. They could not leave through the door she came from, it was completely blocked by the debris. She would have loved to shout with Eddie for this insanity, but there was neither possibility to do so now, nor time. Since there was no other chance to communicate, Lara used the hand signals understood by every diver, pointing upwards with her thumb indicating him to rise. Tapping on the depth-meter she showed eight with her fingers, and Eddie nodded in agreement. The gap that had appeared at the top of the cabin after the crash was the only chance of escape, but the opening proved to be quite narrow. Lara took off the bottle and pulled the tube out of her mouth, while Eddie did the same understanding what she wanted. Pushing the tank through the gap, she pressed herself out, hissing inside when a beam scratched her shoulder. They took a deep breathe from the bottle, when they were again out on the upper deck. Slowly they began to rise facing each other, Lara watching the depth-meter.

When they reached eighty feet, she touched Eddie's arm and they both stopped. Staring at each other for several minutes, just hovering in one spot, a wordless dialogue flowing between them. Lara was still angry, and Eddie just grinned at her maliciously, which did not ease the situation. Thinking they had waited enough Lara nodded again, then tapping the meter on her arm she showed six fingers, and started swimming upwards. Another five-minute break was held to equalize the pressure, but then Lara felt that the oxygen was running out, she feverishly began to think, not daring to risk rising immediately to the surface, but they could not wait long. She decided for only one more pause, seeing on his face that Eddie was aware of the situation as well. The oxygen was almost completely gone, but they still had to wait, they were still almost thirty feet from the surface. Lara threw the bottle off her, which had just become a useless burden, the tank slowly sank towards the bottom. Gradually they began to rise again, although the air was slowly disappearing from their lungs. From this point neither of them cared about the pressure, they desperately tried to get out.

Lara drew in a deep breath, when she broke to the surface. She jerked the mask off her face and looked around nervously, but she saw him nowhere. _Where is this idiot?_ – it ran through her mind, a bad feeling began to rise in her, he should have come to the surface already. Without thinking Lara ducked again, and noticed the man's body a few meters away, he floated helplessly in the water. Lara put her arm around his neck, and pulled him to the surface, his head dropped on her shoulder when the water did not hold it any longer. The boat was still far enough away from them, Lara had to act, she did not have time to get out of water. Quickly she got over to his side, tipped his head back as much as possible, and blew air into his mouth. She turned her head to see if Eddie was breathing, then she did it again.

"Come on!" - she said aloud, as if it had helped anything. As she leaned to his mouth again, suddenly she became aware that Eddie stirred, he almost instinctively reacted to the proximity of Lara, and his lips pressed on hers, his hands wandered to the back of her head and kissed her deep. The whole thing happened so quickly that Lara didn't even grasp it and forgot to protest for a moment. But then her mind cleared and the initial relief that Eddie was not hurt, changed into indignation. She pulled away and angrily pushed the man away, who grinned innocently.

"Such things are really worth to come round to." - Eddie said jokingly.

"Idiot!" - Lara growled, with her hands she angrily spattered him in the face, then began to swim towards the boat. Not even caring if Eddie was following her, she pulled herself up at the end of the boat, and grabbed the towel she had left on the seat. The small box was placed next to her bag, and when Eddie finally got out of the water, for a moment she had even forgotten about it.

"What the hell are you doing here? Why did you come after me? "- she ripped into him vigorously. Eddie did not take her really seriously, he ruffled his wet hair, then as if Lara had not even been there, he sat down on the seat and smiled cheerfully.

"I saw you leave the hotel in the morning and I thought that you would need help." - he said leaning back casually.

"I don't need your help, as you can see I get along quite well alone." - Lara said angrily, then turned and forgetting about herself in her rage she started to peel the diving suit off her body. "How the hell did you find me at all?" – Lara turned back to Eddie, then raised her eyebrows as he just stared at her with glistening eyes as she stood in front of him in the wet suit lowered to her waist, wearing only a bikini top.


	7. Chapter 7

With pleasure he feasted his eyes on Lara's body, who stood arms akimbo looking at him in reprimand. However Eddie did not notice this, he was completely immersed in the sight. When she got tired of waiting, Lara simply picked up the towel in her hand, and threw it at him.

"Grow up!" – she growled, but Eddie pulled his head aside in the last moment laughing, so the material only landed on the seat behind him.

"Come on." - Eddie joked. "You really cannot reproach me for finding you amazing." – he continued happily, but Lara just rolled her eyes, and went back to the interior of the ship. Eddie jumped up and followed her. "But admit that you do not work in a university." – he questioned her.

"I never said that I worked there." - Lara replied absently, but did not get into details. She walked over to the bag, where she had left the box, and bent down to get it.

"I thought so because who would be able to concentrate on anything if such a woman was talking on the rostrum." - he kept talking, watching her every move. He slowly walked behind Lara so silently that she did not even really notice it, all her attention was devoted to the small silver box. "I think last time we were interrupted having a ... conversation." - Eddie came up directly behind her gently stroking her long hair away from her shoulders, and barely noticeably his lips touched her skin. Lara slid her hand to her belt, and with a sudden movement, she drew a knife from its scabbard whereupon Eddie put his hands up in the air laughing. "I surrender, don't hurt me." – he continued grinning, but Lara did not pay further attention to him. Wondering, Eddie stepped beside her, to see, what kept her so busy, he was not accustomed to women ignoring him so much. "What is that in your hands?" - Eddie wondered, as he saw the box.

"This, my friend, is why I came here at all." - Lara said after a while, and then began to prize the top of the box open with the knife. Eddie watched her with growing interest, fascinated by the woman's enthusiasm. The lid finally gave in, and with a creak it opened. They both looked curiously into the box, at the bottom of which a single piece of paper was lying. "It's almost incredible that it endured so long, and water was not running in it." – Lara was astonished.

"What is written on it?" - Eddie asked impatiently, and he could hardly resist reaching out for the slip of paper, but he knew he would not have a chance. Lara slipped the knife back in her belt, and as gently as possible, she grabbed the edge of the piece of paper, and cautiously got it out of its place. Unfortunately time had taken effect, the writing was very faded, they could hardly see anything. Bending over a rickety table she was trying to make out what was on it. "These are kind of numbers." – Eddie was surprised to see, and Lara nodded in agreement. "But what do they mean?" - he asked all without thinking.

"You're not the patient type, are you?" - Lara looked at him incredulously.

"I do not like wasting time." - Eddie grinned, and glided his gaze down on her body for a moment, that did not escape Lara's attention.

"But now you will have no other choice." – Lara looked at him to make him understand the hint, and then turned back to the note that lay in front of her. She leaned closer, eyes narrowed, and examined it. "Why don't you rather try to help?" – she said after a while, as Eddie was just lolling about beside her as if not knowing what to do. The man leaned over smiling and together they were inspecting the numbers. Those they could make out, Lara wrote down on a sheet. A total of twelve numbers stood in two rows on the white paper, but they could not decipher the first ones.

Lara stood up and began walking up and down and back till the end of the ship being immersed in her thoughts. "Seven numbers twice." - she said softly, not really talking to Eddie. "What do they want with seven numbers? If this is some kind of a code, then we don't look too good." - she added.

"What do you mean?" - Eddie interrupted her thoughts.

"That whoever was on this ship, they had left in haste, and this is the only evidence they left behind about where to find the secret, whatever it is." - Lara mused watching the water as the boat was gently swaying under their feet.

"You think this is what Kowalski is looking for, too?" - Eddie asked, after settling on the edge of the ship.

"I do not have any better idea. If we figure out the numbers, we might find Kowalski." – Lara said. "I think it's unnecessary for the time being to waste our time here. We need to go back, I need my database for the research." - Lara added, and climbed the steep ladder to the upper level, from where she could steer the boat. Eddie followed as if not wanting to stay more than two meters away from her. Lara started the engine, then turned to the GPS to set the destination, when something caught her eyes.

"Of course!" – she snatched to her head in surprise, quickly stopped the boat again, and ran down to the lower level. Eddie just looked at her amazed not yet being accustomed to her more than individual working methods. When he found her again, Lara was already leaning over the table, in one hand holding the GPS device, in the other her notes. "It can't be that simple." - she shook her head, smiling.

"What happened?" - Eddie looked at her in amazement, but Lara did not even seem to have heard him.

"Excuse me, sometimes I forget about it that I'm not alone." - Lara said in a short time.

"That's really flattering." – he said with slight resentment in his voice.

"Oh, don't take it personally, since when are you so sensitive?" - Lara laughed. "You don't know what it's like when I sink into my work." - she said absently.

"No, but I'd like to see it." - Eddie grinned again.

"It looks like now you will also have the possibility." - Lara smiled tapping the paper lying on the table in front of them with her fingers. Eddie stepped closer and looked at the screen, then raised his eyebrows.

"Almost the same numbers." - Eddie was surprised to see.

"Exactly." - Lara said. "And now we also know why we could not make out the first numbers. Because they are no numbers." - she continued. "These are co-ordinates, and it's almost exactly where we are now." – she drew the conclusion, and then pulled out a map spreading it out on the table. With experienced strokes she compared the GPS screen to the printed version, and then after thinking for a moment she placed a big X on the map. "That's it. We need to go here." - she showed the location, which indicated the edge of the bay that was not far off the horizon. "I guess we don't go home yet." – she smiled eloquently, returned to the steering wheel, and the ship already started to the specified direction.

::::::

"Not bad." - Lara noted with excitement in her voice looking up at the towering cliffs, which rose at the entrance of the bay.

"Are you serious?" - Eddie said as he followed her gaze upward. "It's up there?"

"You don't like it?" - Lara looked at her with a satisfied smile on her face.

"We have no equipment here, how do you want to get up there?" - Eddie mused, but the woman's face already showed him that he would not like the answer.

"Of course, I climb up." - she said simply, and jumped down to the lower level to prepare.

"This is madness." - Eddie said frowned following her down the ladder. "You were recently shot, how do you imagine climbing these rocks without any securities?" – he looked at her incredulously, but Lara smiled.

"If you knew me a little better, you would not ask such a thing." – she said with a laugh, and began to change not caring about his presence. She took the usual shorts, pulled a tight shirt over the bikini top, and then put on her heavy boots. Fixing the holsters she then finally wore her gloves, while Eddie still could not believe what she was up to.

"I'm going with you." – he said firmly, but Lara shook her head.

"Look, I do this all the time, and you have no practice. Wait here, it will not last long." - Lara replied in an assertive voice. "Would you mind steering the boat as close to the rocks as possible?" – she looked at Eddie asking and took the small backpack as well. The man still did not agree with the idea, but having no other choice, he yielded to the pressure.

Lara stepped on the side of the boat, and then jumping off she clung to the bottom of the cliff. Eddie was anxiously watching her every move, but the feeling quickly changed into awe as the woman climbed upwards. Pulling herself up with such ease and elegance as if gravity had not existed. He saw the muscles of her arm stretch, although her left shoulder was still used with care, she kept striding as if the way had been painted for her. Swaying in one place away from the wall, she looked back, and with a graceful gesture she jumped over to the rock behind her. With the same momentum she continued to climb. Her body was incredibly flexible, she could reach so high with one move that Eddie was speechless. When she reached the top of the rock, a sudden thought popped up in her head. Pulling herself up with a quick motion she swung into a handstand and then very impressively flipped on her fleet. She did not know why she felt that she wanted to impress the man, but in the corner of her mouth a satisfied smile appeared.

Lara quickly looked around, but her enthusiasm quickly waned as the top of the cliff was quite empty. There were just a few stones lying around, and some battered plants swaying, quite ragged by the wind. Though the coordinates were correct. Nevertheless, nothing could be found, there was no place anything could have been hidden. Lara did not give up so quickly, she moved every stone, every plant, but she had to admit that there was nothing there. Neither a gap, nor an engraving, nothing. There was not even a sign that anyone had ever been there. Lara walked around once again immersed in thoughts, she did not want to believe that she had misunderstood something, but it did not make sense, the situation did not change. When she decided that it was unnecessary to spend more time there, she approached the edge of the cliff and looked down to the water. She shrugged and jumped. Her body arched in that perfect curve, which was needed for a swan dive, and then followed by Eddie wondering eyes she submerged in water. She just kicked herself towards the surface when in the corner of her eye she noticed something odd that attracted her attention. After climbing on board she wrenched the water from her hair, while Eddie came up besides her looking at her curiously.

"Nothing was up there." - Lara said quietly, while feverishly thinking about something.

"What do you mean nothing?" - Eddie asked back. Apparently, he was more intrigued by the failure than she. "But this was amazing, how did you do that?" – he looked at her in astonishment, even forgetting about his original question for a moment.

"What do you mean?" - Lara smiled, as if she had not known what he was talking about. "This was just some finger-work, so don't look at me so surprised." - Lara joked.

"You can show me anytime what else you can do." - he grinned maliciously as he leered at her body, to which the wet clothes were clinging excitingly.

"Have I told you yet that you are impossible?" - Lara gave up after a while, because she knew that she would not be able to dissuade him of such comments. Maybe she did not really want it at all.

"As I said you can try to change me, but I do not promise anything." - Eddie dragged on, smiling as they just looked at each other for a while, then Lara sighed. "And now what?" – he asked because he saw that she was lost in thoughts again. "That's about it?"

"I hope you are joking." - Lara looked at him a mild reprimand.

"But what could you do still?" - Eddie sighed. "It was supposed to be there, whatever it is, but it was not."

Lara did not even listen to him, she studied the map again to make sure that the coordinates were correct. When she decided that she surely had not made a mistake, she turned to him and smiled confidently.

"I guess I'm going for another dive." – she said enjoying the surprise on Eddie's face.

"What are you talking about?" - he asked back.

"It looks like we have searched in the right place, just not at the right height. Or better to say depth?" - Lara explained looking around to assess the situation. "I have seen a cave down in the water, it has to be there." - she added as she leaned out on the side of the boat, then ran to the other side as well. Eddie could even follow her with his look, then he suddenly grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Wait a minute!" - he dragged her to him. Lara raised her head for a moment, not understanding what his problem was. "You do not mean this seriously, do you?" - Eddie looked at her. Lara just looked back at him querying, frowning as if the man had lost his mind.

"I appreciate your concern, but it is completely unnecessary." - she smiled, and wanted to move on, but he did not let go.

"You don't even know what's down there." - Eddie continued the debate.

"That's why I want to see it." - Lara said enthusiastically, and again tried to turn away, but Eddie still kept her arm tightly. The woman began to get fed up with the situation, she did not like if someone wanted to control her, especially not someone who she had known for only a few days. "Believe me, I can take care of myself." - she said kindly, and gently pulled his fingers off her arm.

"But there's no more oxygen, we need to go back for equipment." - he tried to persuade her. She could not be so stubborn.

"No way we are going back." – she said assertively. "Sometimes you must take chances for success." – she added defiantly. "But you can stay here, no one is forcing you to anything." - Lara smiled cheekily, whereupon Eddie only shook his head meekly, and followed her inside the boat. There was no need for a lot of preparation, Lara did not want to carry anything unnecessary. After placing the knife in her belt she changed the heavy boots to some lighter shoes.

"I'll see what the situation is down there, wait here." – she told him, but he refused to be left behind this time.

"No way, I'm going with you." - he said. "And do not even try to dissuade me." - he added, as his pride started to be hurt that she did everything alone and he only watched her doing incredible things.

"As you wish, but I tell you in advance that I'm not going to save you again." – she shrugged her shoulders and playfully winked at Eddie.

"Don't be so mean to me." – he joked, but Lara was already standing at the end of the boat, and dived into the water. Eddie followed and he found her not much further, as she hovered near the surface in front of a cave thinking about the next steps. A short time after she kicked herself to the surface once more to breathe before swimming in.

"Then let's see what we find in there" - she smiled, then took a deep breath, dived again and began to swim as fast as she could into the passage. Eddie followed not far behind. Interestingly enough, the water was not completely dark, the cave must have been somehow connected with the surface, some light streamed in from time to time. The flight was winding without any branching or ending so far, Lara began to become unsure how far she should dare to go without oxygen. After pausing for a moment, she then grabbed Eddie's arm and pulled him up. The gap between water and the rocks was just as big that they were able to come to the surface to take a breath. "The end cannot be far anymore if we are already above the water." - Lara said while breathing deeply.

"Now I'm starting to understand why MI6 chose you to bring in." - Eddie smiled at her.

"Is there a moment when you can stay serious?" - Lara shook her head.

"I'm completely serious." - Eddie teased her further. "Dave is funny, but if I have to choose, you won on all fronts." – he kept on joking, while his hands slipped around her waist under the water and pulled her closer to him, which proved to be quite simple, as Lara was able to exert almost no resistance.

"I think we will have time for this later." – Lara said smiling.

"You know how the saying goes ... there's no time like the present." - Eddie teased further, but Lara knew exactly what would happen if the man kissed her again, she had to do something about it. So she just quickly pushed her forefinger on his mouth to silence him, and then accompanied by a provocative look she hastily ducked again before Eddie could have done anything.

They only had a short section to make, and soon a relatively large cave opened up in front of their eyes as they emerged from the water through a larger opening. Lara looked around quickly, and after considering that there was no danger lurking for them, she climbed out of water. The air felt so fresh that they were both surprised. The blue light glimmered through the hole, which strangely lit up the rocks.

"You always do things like that?" - Eddie asked in amazement running his eyes around the cave. Lara walked around with a smile, she did not find it necessary to answer the question. Only one place could be seen in the whole room where anything could have been hidden. As she walked over there, she did not have to search long, a similar small silver box what she had found also in the ship immediately caught her eyes. Taking it in her hands she ran her fingers over it until Eddie came up behind her.

"What is it?" – he asked with an enthusiasm of a child.

"I have to disappoint you, but you have to wait a bit." - Lara laughed. "I do not want to open it until we get back to the ship to lower the chances of destroying it in the last minute." - Lara said, then slipped the box into her belt. Eddie looked at her in disappointment.

"Don't do this to me, you deny me everything." – he began to complain with a grin.

"Come on, let's go for a swim. Then we'll see what I can do for you. "- Lara smiled back at him, and already started towards the hole, Eddie followed meekly. Again they briefly stopped to take a breath at the previous place, then almost simultaneously broke to the surface near the boat. Eddie got out of the water and pulled Lara up, of course with such vigour that she found herself in his arms again. His hands slid down her back, Lara only smiled mysteriously when she felt his fingers on herself. Eddie quickly pulled away one hand, but Lara did not let him, her fingers stroked his arm, with a sardonic smile on her face and then grabbed the box, which Eddie skilfully conjured from her belt.

"I think this is mine." - Lara laughed, when she regained her prey, quickly passed beside him walking over to the table.

"Why is it that I cannot surprise you?" - Eddie shook his head.

"You need to be smarter for this." - Lara retorted with a smile.

"At least show me what's in the box if I cannot persuade you to anything else." - he grinned coming closer. Lara confidently pulled out her knife and began to prize the cover open, which soon creaked and yielded to the violence. They both eagerly looked into it, a folded sheet of paper was lying at the bottom, which apparently was very old. Lara carefully removed it and spread it out on the table in front of them. It was a hand-drawn map, which slightly faded with time, but was relatively distinct. At the bottom of the box they saw something that surprised even Lara.


	8. Chapter 8

**Just a small warning for this chapter: if you are offended by somehow graphical adult content, then skip reading after the second break point. You do not miss anything from the story, just continue with the next chapter again.**

* * *

Simon was sitting at the table, staring into space. The Americans had spent two hours in the jungle, but had not found anything, Kowalski simply disappeared. Now they were trying to analyse the satellite images, but just could not notice anything on them. His mind was constantly elsewhere, his eyes were always wandering to a certain place. To where Lara should have been sitting if she'd been there. But she was not. Simon was angry and he almost exploded. He did not really understand why, but then, when he looked deep inside him, he realised it. He was worried about her. Nobody knew where she was, and Simon knew Lara, and he was sure that something dangerous was on her mind. He could not do anything against it. It was risky to leave Lara alone, sooner or later she always brought herself in some life-threatening situation. Though having often demonstrated that she could take care of herself, Simon was still permeated with fear. It was like not getting air when he had heard that Lara was shot. A thousand thoughts were swirling in him, when he had been standing at her bed and watched her sleeping so peacefully. He remembered the last time he saw her so broken up, and even then he felt like not bearing it to see her like this again. Now, once again she disappeared, and who knows what she was doing. Simon had regretted a thousand times being such a jerk to her the previous day, he did not understand what hit him. Lara looked at him so defiant, he simply lost his head.

That she entered his life again, she stirred up everything that he had so bitterly buried in himself. Hurriedly he looked around, hoping that the others did not realize what was going on in him, but everyone was working feverishly. Simon jumped up from his seat, although he did not really know what he wanted to do. But he had to do something, he went crazy from just sitting there and waiting. Then some quiet conversation and laughter reached his ear from outside, and he saw Lara approaching in the hallway, happily talking to the American. If possible, his anger jumped a level looking at them. He simply could not comprehend what such a woman like Lara found attractive in such a guy. He was contemplating to go over to them when Frank's door opened.

"Eddie, come to my office immediately!" – the boss called out. Eddie exchanged a quick look with Lara, then shrugged his shoulders, and marched into the room. Lara was left alone in the hallway, and Simon was only waiting for this. Suddenly he grabbed her arm and dragged her into the small photocopying room just like before. One of the machines hummed softly as it did its job, but Lara was more than angry.

"Where the hell have you been?" – Simon asked point-blank, as if she owed him any explanation.

"Are you crazy? That's none of your business." - Lara retorted. She did not understand what he wanted, why he would not leave her alone that would have been better for both of them.

"You cannot disappear without a word after what had happened last time." - Simon ripped into her stepping closer.

"I don't have to report you on what I'm doing. You will not decide what I'm allowed to do and what not." - Lara whispered angrily, as their eyes met again. "Let go of my arm!" – she hissed realising that he was still holding her hand. "Otherwise, if you want to know, I was not alone. Eddie was there with me." – she said superciliously, and enjoyed as Simon's eyes darkened.

"Well, that's great. Last time he managed to protect you very well." - Simon retorted indignantly. Lara tilted her head to the side slightly, as she understood his intentions and a self-confident smile appeared on her lips.

"So that's how we stand." - she said defiantly. "If I did not know, I would think you are jealous." – she looked at him with so intensely that Simon moved his gaze from her.

"Jealous? Of whom? The Yankee? "- he demented, and quickly turned so that Lara could not see his face.

"Don't strain yourself, darling." - She said sarcastically. "Those days are gone when I was still interested in your opinion." - Lara added coolly, and left him there.

_Yeah, right_ - Simon thought, after she disappeared. _I've noticed that_ ... His hands clenched, and in his impotent rage he punched into the wall in front of him. He had no idea what he wanted to achieve by questioning her, he only made a fool of himself, but he could not suppress his anger. And his worries. When he stepped out of the room, he ran straight into Frank, who immediately drew him aside.

"Simon, get to work immediately. The woman found a map, find out what's on it. Until then, no one's going anywhere." - the chief said, and went back to his office.

Reluctantly he went back to the big room where everyone was lining up around Lara's table, studying something intently. Despite the fact that he was angry, some kind of pride filled him that she again outran everyone and found the next link. He was sure that she would also solve it, without anyone's help. Lara had always been incredible with this, she was born for it. And this was what stood between them, the damn work that had always been so important for her, more important than he was. He realised this that night, and the fact hit him with such force that he could not stay there and pretend nothing had happened. The silence, which followed the brief discussion was unbearable, it ran through his chest like a cold breeze. As much as he wanted, he could not do anything against it, he had to leave. Time confirmed it, Lara did not even attempt to find him, to at least try to explain, to fight for what they had.

Without much enthusiasm he joined the others, listening to the voice of women, who briefly explained the story, and then spread out the map on the table. Simon was stormed by the memories, he still remembered when the two of them bent over a similar drawing, what it was to work with her. He shook his head slightly to get rid of the images, then reached out and took the small silver box, which contained the map. It rattled in his hand. He curiously looked into it.

"What is that?" – he talked for the first time, not caring that he cut into Lara's words. She looked up, annoyed, but restrained herself.

"That I still do not know. It may be irrelevant." - Lara replied, taking the box from him, the bottom of which was full of tiny red pieces of glass. "Whatever it was, it's broken." – she said, then put the box away, and again concentrated on the map, as if Simon was not even there. "Gentlemen, let's get to work. We have to find out what this map shows." - Lara said, and the others dispersed. Simon even gave her one last look as she was sitting on the chair with the usual determination on her face, then went back to his place.

Lara immersed in research, looked at everything that could have helped her, but the map did simply not show any indications. She could not figure out whether the area was even in Panama or elsewhere. She examined both sides in vain, there was almost nothing written on it. The only indication was a small compass in the upper left corner, but no matter how much she tried, there was nothing special to be seen. She simply did not understand what the whole thing was good for, if it did not provide any starting point. Where could you get with this?

But she did not give up easily, she spent the next two days hunched over the table, barely speaking to anyone. The others did not even try to interfere after a while, because they realised that she needed to work on her own. Spirits were getting low, everyone felt that they did not get anywhere, and no one knew how this could be changed. The pressure grew, time passed, and they did not get any information from their double agent either for days where Kowalski was. Lara buried her face in her hands and rubbed her forehead. She felt like a robot, she only saw the map of front of her eyes, it haunted her day and night. The third evening James came over to her.

"Come on, we go for a drink." - he said assertively, grabbed her arm and pulled her into the hallway where the others were grouped. After a few minutes of persuasion Lara gave up and went with them. She needed some time off.

:::::::

The team settled down at a large round table and James ordered tequila for everyone. The atmosphere was quite depressed, hardly anyone said a word. Everyone was disappointed by the evolution of things, they had been trying to decipher the map for three days, but did not get anywhere. Lara dropped down at one end of the table, of course Eddie sat down next to her before anyone else could have done so. She did not really want to come with the others but they persuaded her that she too needed a break. She took the small glass in her hand measuring the clear drink, when she sensed that someone was watching her. When she lifted her eyes, Simon was staring back at her sharply from the other side of the table. He made no attempt to conceal it or to move his eyes away from her, glaring at her openly, as if no one else had been in the room. Lara's eyes narrowed, and haughtily lifted the glass and drained the content of it at one pull, he doing the same, while they did not take their eyes off one another for a moment.

"To more luck for the next days!" - Mike finally said, and everyone raised their glasses. Lara and Simon refilled, and joined the others, but this was already their battle.

"We do not need luck, we have Lady Croft." - Simon said sharply, only Lara could hear the barely audible hostile tone, which was hiding in his voice.

"We might be better off, if everybody concentrated on the job." - Lara retorted, emphasis on the last words, and then emptied her glass again.

"Not everyone's life is all about work." - Simon snapped, his joints white as he clutched the glass and emptied it provocatively. Lara accepted the challenge, she never would have retreated. The others looked at each other a bit embarrassed feeling the vibrant tension between them, but they did not speak a word.

"Everyone is there to help where he can." - James tried to save the day, but did not really succeed. After not knowing what to say, he rather avoided talking and refilled the glasses. "To cooperation" – he raised his own, smiled and looked at the others, who welcomed the initiative.

"And that everyone gets what he wants ... whatever it is." - Simon said resignedly, and without waiting for the others emptied his glass and then bit into the lemon piece.

"Everyone gets what he deserves." - Lara said, and repeated Simon's movements. The squabble continued, the bottle was getting empty, the mood became increasingly lighter. The others began to forget about the problems, more and more ignoring Simon and Lara, between whom the tension grew to the next level. Eddie finally, with a sudden movement, rose, walked over to the jukebox, and a nice Spanish song started to play.

"Will you dance with me?" – he reached his hand out to Lara, who raised her eyebrows in surprise. She was just wondering how to refuse him, when she saw Simon's angry face, and immediately changed her mind.

"With pleasure." – she replied with a smile, intentionally so loud that she could be sure that Simon heard it. She felt his piercing gaze, as Eddie led her over to the machine. His hand hugged her waist and pulled her close as they slowly began to move to the rhythm of the music. Now that she stood up, Lara increasingly began to feel the impact of the alcohol, her senses dulled, her head felt slightly wobbly. She clung to Eddie, while watching Simon over his shoulder, their looks entwined, and Lara did not know why, but began to behave increasingly provocative. She wanted Simon to be as jealous as possible. As Eddie's hand slid down her back, Simon could no longer restrain himself. He jumped from his seat, the chair fell to the ground, and with somewhat uncertain steps he rushed to the restrooms. As the man disappeared from sight, Lara started to feel uncomfortable about the whole situation, her head was slightly spinning, she wanted to sit down. She could hardly wait for the song to end, for Eddie to let go of her. Finally she excused herself.

Entering the women's restroom, she supported her hands on the wash basin as the door closed behind her. Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes. She was behaving completely unrealistic, but Simon again brought the anger out of her, the she could not get rid of ever since. After washing her face with cold water, her head cleared somewhat, at least she no longer felt dizzy. She stood there for a few minutes, her brain felt as empty as never before. She decided to go back to the hotel.

:::::

But as she stepped out of the restroom, someone grabbed her arm and dragged her into a shadowy corner. She was pressed against the wall, and as she raised her head, Simon looked back at her angrily. They only stared at each other for a short while, and Lara saw that he became increasingly furious as a small mocking smile appeared in the corner of her mouth.

"Why are you doing this?" – he asked finally in a threatening voice.

"What am I doing?" – Lara retorted innocently, with a challenge on her face, which made Simon get the needles even more.

"You know it very well." - he whispered close to her face now. From the inside of the pub some slow, sensual Spanish music filtered in, the sultry air was filled with the smell of tequila, while the bitter smell of the man's after-shave mixed with the thrilling scent of the woman's skin. Simon's eyes pierced through Lara's, and then they slowly moved down. Lara instinctively licked her lips as his look settled on her mouth and she saw that the spark of desire appeared next to the anger in his eyes as her wet lips were glistening in the low light. Lara knew that the time had come for revenge, she wanted Simon to desire her as much as never before, and then to suffer, as much as she suffered, that he could not get her. "Goddamn it, Lara!" - Simon burst out angrily, as she was only playing with him. Lara raised her hand, but Simon did not allow her to touch him, he grabbed her wrists, and pinned her arms to the wall over her head, while stepping even closer to her. Lara enjoyed the situation, she knew that Simon wanted her, she knew his look like no one else's. She could not understand how it was possible for someone to hate a man with such passion and at the same time feel attracted to him so much. His face was only inches away from hers and yet nothing happened, which was both so stimulant and brought her out of her temper as only a few other things could. The plan was perfect, his breathing became deeper and deeper. There was only one thing Lara did not take into consideration, which crossed all her calculation: her own desires. Her chest began to heave dangerously as she felt his hot breath on her skin and she was unable to resist him. Simon kissed her so wildly that made her forget everything around her. His hands let go of her wrist and slid down on her arm to her body, his touch burnt her skin even through her shirt, while he pressed her against the wall with such force that they almost became one. Simon's lips suddenly let go of her and he pulled away from her grasping for air that made Lara open her eyes and look at him questioningly. But she did not have time to say anything because Simon grabbed her arm again and pulled her towards the back door. Without thinking he pushed the woman into a taxi and told the driver the address in a drowning voice before their lips inextricably joined again.

The taxi driver could not believe his eyes for a moment, then he slowly started to the specified direction. As there was hardly any traffic at this late hour, he could not resist watching the couple, who apparently were not bothered by the fact that they were not alone. He adjusted the rear-view mirror to see them instead of the traffic and his eyes clung to it so much that sometimes he had to brake not to crash into some other car. She looked incredible; Pablo had only seen such a beautiful woman on the television. His eyes followed the man's hand as he caressed her body and he envied him how lucky he was, but always such guys got the good women. And this one was perfect, sexy, wild, passionate. To his greatest despair they were getting closer to the specified address, Pablo stopped the car, but for a moment he was uncertain what to do as he did not want to interrupt them. Actually it was not against his will to enjoy the show for a while still, although he would have rather preferred to be in the man's shoes.

Simon finally raised his head, and began to rummage in his pocket, while the woman pulled him back down. Only with great difficulty he managed to get out some banknotes from his pocket, and without looking up he threw them to the wondering driver's lap. Pablo idly watched them for a while until they reached the gate devouring each other.

Simon kicked the entrance open and waited until the elevator arrived and pushed her inside. Lara did not protest against any of his gesture. Their lips met again, Lara moaned softly as Simon kissed his way down her neck, but he did not get any farther because the elevator opened behind them. At the apartment door they finally stopped again, Simon pressed Lara against it, while his hands desperately searched for the keys in his pocket. Almost with unconscious movements he tried to force one of them into the lock as he could not concentrate on anything else but her. He almost dropped the set of keys, when Lara's tongue slipped deep into his mouth, but after several frantic attempts he managed to open the door and they almost fell into the flat. They stumbled through the hall and then crashed against the dining table, which slid back almost three feet as they set upon it. With a single move of his arm Simon swept away everything, the plates and glasses landed rattled on the ground, some broken apart into small pieces, but neither of them dealt with it. There were only the two of them in the world, no one and nothing else. It was as if time had turned back, as if everything had been the same as in the past. They felt the same overwhelming passion as that time.

Simon suddenly spun Lara around and pressed her on the table leaning on her from behind and began to kiss her neck wildly while his body clung to hers. Lara let him do anything without thinking, she just wanted to feel him. No longer being interested in anything else, all her best laid plans fell apart in his hands. It did not bother her anymore whether this intoxication was caused by the alcohol or the passion, she just simply needed it, more than anything else. Simon pulled her back, then picked her up and unstoppably approached the bedroom. But to Lara's biggest surprise, they did not go to the bed. The man kicked the door of the bathroom open, then put her down and looked at her narrowing his eyes, as she stood in front of him. With a powerful gesture he tossed her into the shower, Lara groaned as she fell against the tap and the water began to pour on her. Everything was soaked on her in an instant, the water trickled down on her face like a million tears.

With one desperate move Simon pulled off his shirt, Lara raised her eyebrows as he stood in front of him with naked upper body, ferocity reflecting in his eyes, making him become so beastly attractive, as he scanned her body, to which the clothes were clinging excitedly. Lara shuddered for a moment as he approached her almost menacingly. She knew him, more than anyone else, but she had never seen him this way, so wild, almost frightening. He kissed her with such fervour that Lara could hardly breathe. His hands stroked her neck, his fingers grabbed her T-shirt and he pulled it with such an elemental force that the material gave in and split in the middle with a crash. Simon then suddenly stopped as he glimpsed the thin bandage, which covered Lara's left shoulder. Almost mesmerized he was watching the patch, his fingers gently slid to it and touched it as if he had only realised by now that he had almost lost her. Their eyes met again, Lara's hands moved towards his face, but again Simon did not allow it to happen, he nailed her wrist to the wall again and she let him. His right hand touched her face, his thumb sensually caressed her lips, then moved on down on her neck. His touch was both extremely gentle and yet so demanding that Lara gave herself to him completely. His fingers slipped under her bra strap and traced its contours on her body, touching her firm breasts. Simon looked at her, touched her as if he could not believe that it was her standing in front of him, that after so many sleepless nights it was her skin he was stroking, it was her smell he was breathing in. Again he became as gentle as Lara had known him and these changes drove her out of her mind. In one moment Simon was almost aggressive and then without any transition he got extremely gentle and Lara felt that she was losing the rest of her sanity. He looked up and she saw the growing desire in his eyes, how that smouldering glow turned into a flaming fire, he was like a hurricane that disappeared from sight for an instant just to bore down with an even more devastating power afterwards.

This time there was no turning back, neither for Simon, nor for Lara. Neither of them cared anymore what had happened in the past or what was coming in the future. He kissed her as if there was no tomorrow, as if there was no more chance to hold her in his arms, as if the world would cease to exist after this. His lips set off on her body, as his hands slid down her back her bra landed forgotten on the wet floor, his tongue stroked every inch of her skin and Lara had to support herself so that passion would not compel her to the ground, when Simon knelt in front of her and pulled down her pants, while his lips kissed their way down on the inner side of her thigh. Her hands wildly brushed into his hair and after he straightened up again, suddenly she pushed him away. Simon almost lost his balance as he took a couple of steps back, but immediately a smug grin appeared on his face as he looked at the woman, who stood in front of him wet, dishevelled by passion. He could see the same anger in her eyes he also felt, and enjoyed it, that he had reached what he wanted. Her lust was aroused to such a level that she had seized control and Simon knew that she would sweep through him like a whirlwind.

Lara then started off towards him pushing him out of the bathroom, straight into the bedroom. With a single movement her hands freed him from the last pieces of clothes, then she angrily tossed him on the bed and sat astride on his lap feeling his excitement under her. Simon tried to sit up but Lara only smiled ironically and pushed him back on the bed. After teasingly caressing his muscular chest, she bent down and kissed him wildly, while her breasts touched his skin. Her tongue slipped deep into his mouth, Simon hardly could keep up the pace with her. But he did not mind, he wanted her to lose all her inhibitions, to be overcome by such passion like never before, that everything would be as it was the first time. His hands ran down on her back, and then he freed her from her underwear as he grabbed her bottom. Lara raised her body, and let Simon enter her and slowly they took over the ancient rhythm that with each movement became wilder and wilder. As waves of lust percolated her, Lara straightened up, tipped her head back and bit her lips when the pleasure became increasingly obsessive. Simon was watching with such joy, as her face flushed and rapture took control over her, that he forgot about everything else. He clenched his teeth while all his muscles tensed, Lara's back arched and they both drowned into the storm of emotions that surrounded them. And as if there was really no tomorrow, the world ceased to exist around them.


	9. Chapter 9

Simon's hand slid to his forehead as he began to wake up, and softly moaned. It felt as if someone had beaten him, he needed some time to understand what had happened to him. His head throbbed slightly, but strange enough a pleasant feeling lingered on his mind. He lifted his head and absently looked around the room, which seemed as if a hurricane had swept through. The pillows were lying around on the floor, his clothes scattered around, even the single picture on the wall was hanging in a strange angle. A satisfied smile appeared on his face. First he did not even know how he felt, but he was simply happy.

"Lara?" - he said aloud. He could hardly wait to see her, to hold her again. Lara was the only woman he could never get out of his mind, she immediately and irrevocably became a part of him. Suddenly he could not even remember why he had been angry with her, or even how he had been capable of doing so. He sat up in bed, but still received no answer, perfect stillness reigned in the apartment. He climbed out of bed, and not caring about not wearing anything, went towards the bathroom. Inside, however, there was no sign that Lara had ever been there. The only thing that caught his eyes, was a white garment, which was lying abandoned on the floor. He bent down and picked it up. It was Lara's shirt that he had torn apart in his anger. It was almost completely dry, but still had her smell. A similar picture welcomed him in the dining room, broken dishes lying around, the furniture misplaced, toppled. But Lara was nowhere. He stumbled back to the bedroom, and dragged on his clothes. He did not understand, where she went, but he wanted to find her.

...

Half an hour later he entered the office as Lara was not in the hotel either. He could hardly help whistling loudly, but he did not want the others to suspect anything. There was no need to search very long, Lara was standing next to the printer, reading something intently. Simon ran his eyes down her body, and Lara, just as if she had felt being watched, looked up at him. Their eyes met for a moment and Simon smiled at her. Lara nodded her head to the left, then moved out to the corridor, followed by Simon. He entered the small room, shut the door behind him, and approached her.

"Why did you leave?" - he said quietly, stroking her arm.

"Why, what did you expect?" - Lara countered barely audibly. Simon was a bit surprised by the response, looked back querying at her. She leaned her hip against the table, bowed her head biting her lip.

"Look at me, please." - Simon said, and gently lifted her head. "What's wrong?" - Simon stepped closer to her, she smelled the scent of him that made everything even more complicated. She could not immediately answer, excruciating silence hung in the room.

"Look, we've already tried this once and it did not work. Now, just because we got drunk and I slept with you, nothing has changed." - she whispered and Simon had no idea what it cost her that her voice did not shake. She was unable to once again go through that what she had behind her in the past three months. The pain, the suffering, the loneliness. No matter that everything in her cried after him, her brain did not allow it, she could not let him close to her again. Simon raised his eyebrows, he felt as if being hit in the stomach.

"You cannot say this seriously." - he said, as if not believing his ears. He pulled Lara close to him and put his arms around her waist. "Don't tell me you do not feel the same." - he whispered in her ear. Lara closed her eyes for a moment and almost gave in to him, but then she pushed him away.

"It makes no sense, please don't do this." - she heard her own words as if someone else had said them. "I don't want this, you want something from me anyway that I cannot give you. Let's not torture each other anymore." - Lara said embarrassed, and without looking at Simon she stepped away from him and left the room. Simon just stood there as if petrified, for a few moments he did not even know what happened to him. Suddenly he felt a million thoughts racing through his mind, and yet his head felt so empty like never before. He could not believe what Lara said, her words were echoing all around him, still he did not understand them. Or maybe he just did not want to understand them. There was not even enough strength in him to follow her. He tried to erase the feelings inside him, but all those things she awoke in him burned inside him with such heat that he wanted to cry out. At least he wanted to force himself to bring back the anger he had felt before, so that he would not suffer, but he was unable to hate her. He had no idea how he would now go back to the others, and pretend that nothing had happened. He did not know how to look at her again without seeing that passion in her eyes that was there last night. He walked out of the room unable to focus, with no sense of direction and almost bumped into Natalie, who opened her mouth to speak, but immediately fell silent as she looked at him.

Natalie went on thoughtfully in the hallway, then entered the women's restroom, and she immediately understood why he was so upset. Lara stood there, hunched over the sink, and though she did not see her face, Natalie was sure that the same expression sat on it as on his.

"Is something wrong?" - she asked softly, quietly approaching the woman, who shuddered at her voice. "Can I help you something?"

"No ... There's nothing wrong." - Lara blurted out, trying to sound calm and to pull herself together quickly. She attempted to put on a friendly face but she only managed an awkward, forced smile. Natalie felt extremely sorry for her, as she stood in front of her and visibly trying to hide her emotions, but succeeded less and less to do so. She could not help going closer to her.

"I know it's none of my business, but at least listen to me." – she said to her in a warm voice. All this felt quite strange to Lara having lost her mother at such a young age, she was not accustomed to share her feelings with anyone else. "I was there with you, and if someone even unconsciously whispers a man's name, there is a reason for this, believe me." Lara looked at her with a surprised expression, as if she did not understand what she was talking about. Could this be true? But how else could the woman know about all this that was going on in her? "Do not choke back your emotions, they will only perish you, make you unhappy, although you could be happy." - Natalie went on sweetly. "That guy has a crush on you, do yourself a favour and love him, as long as you can." - the woman added, compassionately squeezed Lara's arm, then turned around and left. Lara stared helplessly to her as a raging storm of emotions swirled inside her.

...

After collecting her thoughts, Lara again sat at the desk, taking out the map. She knew that work would help, as always, if something went wrong. All she needed was to focus, but she was aware that it would not be easy. Over the past three months she kept saying this to herself in vain, always failed to implement it. At least the situation was different in that sense that something interesting had emerged, and she was not just sitting at home. The team counted on her. Fortunately, Simon did not return to his place. Lara had no idea where he may have disappeared, but she did not want to deal with it. He was able to take care of himself.

Spreading out the map in front of her, she ran her eyes over it again and again, about the millionth time, but the picture did not change. Not that she expected it. Mysteries rarely got solved by themselves. But Lara was often lucky enough to accidentally stumble upon the solution. Having decided that there was no sense staring at the blank page, she began to search through the database. She did not really know what she was looking for, after some time she just randomly clicked around, perhaps she would run into something. When she found a fairly long document, she decided not to exhaust her eyes, but rather print it.

Lara was coming back from the printer, rather immersed in studying the document when she heard a male voice. Eddie stood there leaning against her desk, the usual sardonic smile on his face. At the moment Lara wanted nothing less than any company, but she did not want to be rude to him. Despite what she told Simon, she did not want to deal with Eddie either, she had enough of men for a while.

"You disappeared last night, we didn't even notice when you left." - Eddie said absently. Lara did not want to explain, not wanting anyone to know what had happened the night before. It was no one's business.

"Sorry, I didn't feel good, and went back to the hotel." - Lara replied, which was not even a lie, as she would have done so if fate had not intervened. Although this was not fate, but her own stupidity.

"You could have said something, I would have brought you back. It's not recommended to walk around alone at night in this city." – he continued, but there was no resentment in his voice.

"I think I can take care of myself. But thanks anyway." - a faint smile ran over Lara's face. She tried to sit back on her place, but Eddie grabbed her waist.

"I did not even thank you for the dance last night. We could really do it again one day, when there are not so many people around." - he grinned at her, and Lara suddenly did not know what to do. She did not want to offend him, but after what happened last night she did not want to get close to him either. The current events still influenced her so much, all stirred in her that she did not know where her head was. First, she wanted to clear her mind before getting involved in anything else.

"I really enjoyed myself." - Lara replied politely, while trying to get rid of his arms. "But now I have a lot of work, I must find out what ... .." – but then her hand hit the silver box, lying on the shelf at her desk, it fell down, and the little fragments of the red glass scattered all around the table. Lara automatically reached out for it, and then hissed as she snatched her hand back. A sharp piece had cut her finger, a drop of blood appeared on the surface of her skin. Instinctively she raised her finger to her mouth, licking off the blood. "Damn!" - she said abruptly.

"Did you cut yourself? Let me see." – Eddie was worried.

"It's nothing but a scratch." - Lara said, and was glad to find some excuse to sit back to her place. As she settled back in the chair, suddenly something caught her attention that she had not discovered before. Barely noticeable lines could be seen on the small glass splinters, which certainly could not have been a coincidence. As she studied them, she was increasingly confident that some kind of a shape was painted on the glass, but was still unable to figure out what it could be. "This is unbelievable!" - Lara said in amazement, not taking her eyes off the table.

"What happened? Don't tell me that once again you know the solution." – Eddie joked, but Lara did not even listen to him, although after their last adventure he began to get used to it. Her fingers feverishly started to collect the broken glass, not caring if she cut herself with it again. Concentrating deeply, she leaned over the fragments and began to settle the pieces like a puzzle.

"What the heck can this drawing be?" - Lara was thinking out loud, but she did not really talk to Eddie. "It is so faint, it is difficult to tell."

"It's in thousand pieces, difficult to put it together." – he said, while idly watching her pushing around the pieces.

"Get me some glue" - Lara looked up as if realising for first time again that Eddie was standing next to her, and then turned her attention back to the picture. She could only hope that no piece was missing and she could put it together.

By the time Eddie returned with the glue, several people collected around the table and tried to give Lara tips on what to put where. It was a damn slow process, it was late at night, when the image started to take shape, but Lara did not feel tired at all. Enthusiasm captured her completely. After a while also Frank became attentive to them, and joined looking querying at Dave.

"Ms. Croft has cracked the map. At least it very much looks like." – Dave said, but the turned back to the table, not wanting to miss anything. The whole team was infected by her devotion, they watched as excitedly as if their lives depended on it.

"Where's Simon?" - Frank asked, after looking around and noticing that he was the only one missing from the team.

"I don't know, I haven't seen him all day." - Dave answered, wondering for a moment that he really did not realise that Simon was not there.

"He is just catching some fresh air." - Natalie said because she did not want people to start asking questions. The statement caught Lara's ears for a moment, but then she dismissed the thought. After several hours of hard work, Lara looked up and solemnly held up the last little fragment of the glass, and encouraged by the others she placed it in the last hole. The image was assembled, and everyone was looking trying to make out what it depicted.

"What is this?" - Will asked in amazement.

"It's a pyramid." - James guessed enthusiastically, while trying to angle his head to see the picture.

"No, it's a church tower." - Mike said, and slowly such a cacophony unfolded that they could hardly hear each other's voices. Not caring about anything Lara was staring at the picture, she was the only one who did not speak. A couple of minutes later the others went silent, looking at her querying. Everyone was waiting for her answer, and they did not have to wait long.

"This, ladies and gentlemen, is a lighthouse." - Lara said resolutely. All eyes were fixed on the image again, and then the others began to nod in agreement. The statement was followed by a minute's silence, then Eddie broke the silence.

"And what is this good for now?" - he asked aloud, looking straight to Lara, just like she should have known every answer.

"This is a very good question. That's exactly what we need to figure out." – Lara replied, further studying the figure. It did not resemble anything she had ever seen. "I think we will need Will's help again. If we figure out where this tower is, the map will probably make more sense." – she continued, and then carefully handed the glass to the technologist.

Will was able to work wonders, an hour later, a much more detailed digital version of the drawing appeared on the monitor. Whereas the others had not really been able to help her, Lara sent them home.

"Go home and sleep a bit." - Natalie said to her, before she stepped out into the corridor, but the image did not let Lara rest, she wouldn't have been able to close her eyes.

"I'm not staying long anymore" - Lara answered back, though maybe they both knew that she had not mean it seriously. Natalie let it be after all, and said goodbye.

"See you in the morning!" – Lara was left alone in the great room. She only heard the sound of the computers around her, it was almost a relief. Ever since she left home, she hardly spent any time alone, there was always somebody around her. She almost missed her loneliness. Working alone had always been the best for her, except for maybe once then. But still in time the thought was interrupted in her head before it would have settle in too much. Lara immersed herself in work.

...

Lara moaned as she moved her neck, which was quite stiff. Then she realized that sometime during the night she fell asleep leaning on the table and was now trying to recover from the dullness.

"This is not really the most convenient way to relax." – someone said behind her, and Lara immediately recognized the voice. As fast as she could, she rose from the table and massaged her stiff shoulders. Simon stood over her, looking at her asking, two mugs of coffee in his hands. Moving slowly, he put down one of the mugs in front of her, then he turned around and went to his seat. Lara could not say a word, but Simon did not leave her a chance either. Looking around in surprise, she could see no one else in the office yet. Somehow she felt uncomfortable alone with Simon, despite the fact that he did not speak to her, moreover, he did not even look up. In any case Lara decided to retreat, and clutching the coffee mug she went to the bathroom to refresh herself a bit.

When she returned, some others had already arrived, a faint chatting evolved. Reassured, she sat in her seat. The rest of the day passed rather slowly, Lara trying to consult everyone from time to time what they had found out about the drawing, but they were simply unable to identify where the tower stood.

"What if it was destroyed long ago, and there is no record about it?" - James anxiously asked her, when they were discussing things.

"Unfortunately, there's a chance for that. But we must try everything." - Lara replied, although her enthusiasm was increasingly declined. But she did not want to give up, the more difficult the task was, the more annoyed she became when she could not solve it. She returned to her place holding the glass in front of her, watching it intently. _Where the hell can you be?_ - she thought to herself.

Lara sat there all day at the desk, Simon looked at her, as the usual determination was sitting on her face. He knew this expression very well, he knew that she would not give up until she solved the mystery. Still he could remember clearly when they had worked together, how tension had accumulated in her every day, as they had not progressed, , and then how suddenly the solution had popped out of her mind in a single minute. He had never seen anyone working this way.

...

The next morning, he did not understand why, but again Simon came to the office so early that there was no one else there yet. At least, he thought so, but again he found Lara there sleeping on the desk. For a moment he felt a strong temptation to step over to her and caress a strand of hair out of her face, but he resisted. He was worried about her, knowing that Lara would strain herself too hard, if she did not come to a solution soon. Approaching her, he placed a cup of coffee on the table, just like the previous day. Lara moved almost imperceptibly, and then opened her eyes, looking at him in surprise, but said nothing.

"Will you ever speak to me again?" - he asked softly. Lara stood up, rubbing her eyes.

"Thanks." - she said almost inaudibly, as she took the cup and sipped from it. The coffee was exactly as she liked it.

"May I see the picture?" - Simon looked at her querying, but did not stir. Everything between them was so measured and civilized, that it almost hurt. Lara slowly handed him the glass, and she knew that he scrupulously sought to avoid touching her even for a moment. Simon raised the glass up a little bit towards the light to get a better view. As the first rays of the sun shone through it, the glass cast some red light on the map lying on the table. Lara watched the spectacle in front of her in amazement.

She could not believe what she saw. Days were spent trying to decipher what the image depicted, and the solution was as simple as that. She did not understand how it was possible, but as the red light fell on it, all kinds of lines appeared on the so far empty map.

"Don't move!" – she told Simon excitedly. His hands stopped in mid-air, looking back at her in surprise. Then he saw too, what it was that thrilled her so much. For a moment, both of them forgot about everything else, and together they bent over the paper. "Quickly, give me a pencil!" – Lara jabbered hurriedly, and then began drawing on the copy of the map not to ruin the original. "Now this is getting much more interesting this way." - Lara laughed with relief as she realised that the lines were clearly indicating the coordinates of the area. Simon watched her enthusiasm smiling.

"But this looks like a pretty big area. What should we look for?" - Simon said after a while.

"Hmm ... this is a very good question." - Lara mused. Indeed, on the map she did not see any sign that would indicate where exactly they should go. Having no idea what they were searching for, it would have been hard enough to know where to start.

"I think this time the Spaniards don't give themselves so easily." - Simon said absently, as he straightened up again. The lack of facts made Lara unsure. _Something must have skipped my attention_ - she thought to herself, thinking feverishly. Her eyes looked at every little detail of the map, though having seen it a million times. Suddenly, something caught her eyes that looked quite strange, did not fit to the map. She noticed four small right angles, which seemed to be placed too precisely to be coincidental. Her hand instinctively reached for the glass, and as she laid it on the sheet, its four corners fit perfectly between the right angles, just like a photo in a frame. At once, a wondering look appeared on their faces, when they looked at the map. The lines that symbolised the light emanating from the top of the lighthouse, all showed exactly to the same spot.


	10. Chapter 10

Lara stretched on the somehow uncomfortable camp bed, thinking about the last hours. Being so excited she could not close her eyes. Whatever it was on the map, she knew it had to be here. They just had to wait for the morning, it was impossible to start the search in the darkness. When they showed the map to Frank, he immediately agreed to go after it. This was their only chance to find Kowalski, and to find out what he planned. The silence of the night was almost suffocating, Lara barely heard any noises. Suddenly, she did not know why, but she shuddered. A strange feeling came over her that she could not identify. She rarely felt fear, but this time she was sure that this rather disturbing feeling was hiding in her. The worst thing was that this feeling had hardly anything to do with the fact that she was lying in a tent in the middle of the jungle, and was surrounded by ghostly silence.

Then, in the office, suddenly everything was like before, and it frightened her. Simon helped her, inspired her, just like so many times before, and the memories rushed back to her, after the excitement settled in her. Lara was afraid of the memories, more than anything else. She was afraid of them because she wanted to get back the happiness that she had felt that time, and yet at the same time she also wanted to avoid it from afar because she could not have survived that emptiness once more that followed it. But she could not escape the thoughts that were almost painfully burnt in her brain. She had to avoid him from afar, which was becoming more and more difficult now that they were in the same team.

Frank sent only three people with her, they wanted to avoid attention. And he was right, it would not have been fortunate if they had been noticed. What a little irony of life that Simon and Eddie were in the same team now. Lara had walked into her own trap, and could only hope to get out of it alive. The all-enveloping silence was suddenly broken by roaring explosion. For a moment Lara did not know where she was, but then jumped out of bed and took her backpack. Then another crash was heard, and the fire blew into the wall of the tent, the blast threw Lara meters away, she landed in the dense undergrowth behind the tent, and suddenly all went black around her.

It could not have been long that she was unconscious, when she opened her eyes, the tent was still burning fiercely in front of her, almost everything was covered in flames. Lara felt the heat of the fire on her skin. Nervously, she looked around, but did not see anyone around her. The whole camp was ablaze, and still she was surrounded by such calmness that she expected the worst. The darkness created a terrifying contrast to the red flames. She jumped up from the ground, and carefully approached the trees. After spying out from her hiding place she saw Eddie through the flames, as he crouched in the cover of an off-road car. A sudden relief ran through her when she saw that nothing was wrong with him. But where could the others be? - she thought anxiously. Once she knew that Eddie would not hear her voice anyway, she started to run towards him. Suddenly she just felt a huge blast that flew her back, and the car, behind which Eddie was hiding a moment ago, was ablaze. Lara moaned as she pushed herself to her feet. Some sharp pain slit in her arm, as she touched it, blood stuck to her fingers. Eddie was lying only a few meters from her, but Lara had hardly taken a few steps towards him, when a bullet whistled by her head.

Instinctively she threw herself to the ground, and rolled over to Eddie, while the bullets began to hail around them.

"Eddie!" – she shook the man who was lying motionless in front of her, but slightly stirred to the gesture. Lara breathed in relief.

"What the hell happened?" - Eddie groaned as he tried to sit up.

"Come on, we need to get out of here!" - Lara yelled nervously while she yanked him to his feet. "Where are the others?" – she looked at him with a desperate face.

"I have no idea, I did not see anyone." - Eddie replied uncertainly. Lara then saw something and such fear grabbed her that she had never felt before.

"Run to the woods!" – she screamed at Eddie, and then pushed the man away, who did not even protest in surprise. Lara looked out from behind the dugout, though she did not know why, she could not see anything in the dark. The shots could have come from anywhere, anytime. Only the outline of the body could be seen, as he lay next to the remains of the burning tent, and she could not take her eyes off him. Almost in trance she approached him, already seeing the nightmares in front of her, the bloody face, the glassy eyes. Lara threw herself behind the other car, then crawled over to the man. The body was still warm, his skin was covered with a thick layer of dust, and a tear ran down on Lara's face as she looked into his eyes staring at nothing. As if for a moment the chaos had ceased around her, as if a shell had surrounded them, and she hated herself. She hated herself because all she felt was relief, because the teardrop was not born by the mourning, but by the ease that it was not him lying in front of her. She wanted to feel sadness so much looking at the lifeless face of Dave, but only relief filled her completely that it was not Simon.

With an almost unconscious gesture she reached out towards the man's face, her fingers slid over it, and closed his eyes. For a seemingly endless moment, Lara shut her eyes and took a deep breath. Her lips formed a few inaudible words, then the next second she was running after Eddie. The man was not far away, lying on the ground, clenching his jaw and trying to crawl forward on the ground.

"Oh my God, you've been hit?" - Lara cried desperately. Spooky sounds surrounded them on every side, the dark forest rustled and whispered scarily, as if any minute someone could jump on them from the blackness. Eddie hissed as Lara pulled him up from the ground, and he leaned on her shoulder. They could barely get forward, his weight pressed on her. Lara kept the gun in her right hand trained forward, and her eyes nervously scanned the area. She shuddered to every little noise, snatched her head there, which was then followed by the gun. She wanted to get as far as possible from the camp. If Eddie was safe, she would look for Simon. All she could do was trying to dismiss the worry she felt from her brain, but it just etched into her stomach stronger and stronger with each step. Eddie's weight pressed on her shoulder more and more as he could barely walk. The bushes rustled behind them, Lara snatched her head back, but saw nothing. It was as if thousands of shadows had been around them, as if the night had come alive. Lara almost lost her balance when she bumped into something, quickly she trained her gun, and she came within an ace of firing it.

"Hey, it's just me." – the man breathed heavily as he caught her wrist, so she could not hit him. Lara did not even notice that she was holding her breath, relief broke out of her that Simon was standing in front of her. "Cover us!" - the man said nervously, went to Eddie and took the burden from Lara's shoulders.

"Dave ..." - she blurted out, but Simon interrupted her before she could say anything.

"Now there is no time for this, we cannot help him anymore. Go!" – Simon commanded Lara strictly, who was fighting with herself shortly, but she was actually grateful that he took over the lead.

They might have stumbled in the dark for hours, but no one seemed to be following them. The light of the fire began to fade away behind them, the noises began to die away, the forest calmed down around them. Lara slowly lowered her gun and for the first time realisation ran through her, and she nearly dropped to the ground. She leaned against a tree trunk, and heard that Simon stopped behind her and cautiously helped Eddie to sit on the ground.

"We have to find a place for the night, we cannot stay here." – Simon said practically and Lara just nodded silently. He quickly looked around and saw a fit-looking place, and ushered the others in that direction. The only things that remained with them were Lara's backpack and a few handguns. Fortunately, Lara always had the essential equipment with her for such cases. Eddie swallowed a curse, when Lara tightly bandaged the gunshot wound on his thigh.

"You were lucky." - she said softly. "The bleeding almost completely stopped, the bullet did not hit any artery. Now, relax a bit, we figure out tomorrow what to do." - she continued, and smiled at him.

"Thank you for your help." - he looked back at her gratefully. "Again, I owe you." - Eddie smiled and gently stroked Lara's face.

"Sleep now." - she whispered, then rose and left him alone at the tiny campfire.

Lara walked over to Simon, who was standing a little bit further away, with his back to her, leaning against a tree.

"Thank you for helping Eddie." - Lara said softly. Simon did not turn, only a tiny flutter indicated that he had heard her voice at all.

"I hope you did not think that I would leave him there." - Simon replied with a measured voice.

"No, really not." - Lara mused, and she did not know what else she could say, after a few beats of stillness she bowed her head and turned to go back to the fire. Anything was better than this awkward silence.

"Are you okay?" – she heard Simon's rough voice behind her. He walked up beside her and watched her intensely, then the cut on her arm caught his eyes. He still remembered the night when he had such a wound on his arm and she did not let him not to deal with it. Simon bent down without a word, and took a small first-aid kit. "Sit down!" – he commanded Lara peremptorily, who exceptionally did not protest. Her skin was so silky even now, it conjured up a thousand of memories when he touched her. Lara endured it without a word that Simon dressed the wound, and then when he finished, their eyes met.

Eddie gently turned over to the other side, and since he did not hear anything around him, opened his eyes a little bit to make sure that everything was alright. The shape of Lara caught his eyes who was sitting by the fire, while Simon was kneeling in front of her. One of his hands still rested on the thin bond, which he just placed on her arm, while they were drowned in each other's eyes. Only the fire crackled softly and the flames involved the two figures in a warm, yellowish light. Eddie had never been a sentimental type, but even he could not help noticing the odd attraction, which was vibrating between the two. They did not say anything, but their eyes told everything as they were watching each other. An unspoken feeling was glittering in Lara's eyes, and Eddie was sure that Simon felt the same for her. Eddie looked a little disappointed to himself, when he understood what Natalie had already some days ago. Lara and Simon inextricably belonged together, even if they were fighting against it.

The next morning there was no trace of any feeling or insecurity on Lara's face anymore. She firmly attached the weapons on herself, and put her hair together in the usual ponytail. Eddie tried to move his stiff limbs, while cautiously experimenting if he was able to stand on his feet. The situation had changed somewhat, they were cut off from the outside world, one of them was injured, they had no vehicles and equipment.

"How far could we be from the nearest town?" - Simon mused.

"I don't know, may even be a hundred kilometres. Why?" – Lara asked back idly.

"What do you mean why?" - he raised his eyebrows. "We must get back somehow."

Lara's hands paused for a moment and pondered on what she had heard. She had not even thought of that option. She looked at Eddie, who was still limping, and then reversed her gaze to Simon.

"You're right." - she said. "It will not be an easy undertaking, but you must go back to the civilisation." - she said reflectively, as she buckled her belt to the waist. When she lifted her head, Simon looked at her as if he had seen ghosts.

"What are you talking about?" – he stared at her as if they had not spoken the same language. Simon suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her with him for the umpteenth time so that Eddie could not hear them. "Are you insane?"

"You do not think that once we have come so far, I would now give up and walk away?" - Lara asked back in disbelief. "You go with Eddie, and I look for that place. I want to know what's there." - she said.

"I'm not going to leave you here alone in the middle of nowhere, so forget it." - Simon said angrily.

"I do not need you, I also got along somehow in the last three months." – Lara retorted, and tried to free her arm from his grip, without success. She looked hard at him not being able to believe that they arrived at this point again.

"This is not necessary." - they both raised their heads as they heard Eddie's voice besides them. "Let's find out why we came here." - Eddie said cheerfully, and limped back to the campsite. Simon, accompanied by a cutting look, let go of her hand. Lara turned away, and followed Eddie.

When Simon returned, he found Lara and Eddie hunched over the map, trying to identify where they might be.

"I don't think we got too far." – Eddie said.

"We may be about six kilometres away. So let's get going before they find us again." – Lara replied, then protestingly put her arm around Eddie, helping him, and they started off to the given direction. Simon followed them cursing within. _How can this woman be so damn stubborn?_ - he thought to himself. It drove him crazy that she constantly contradicted just to annoy him. That she was so dominating, did not bother him. That never caused him trouble. He could handle her. But he hated it when she deliberately wanted to hurt him, just to get revenge for something that really was not his fault. Although it really seemed that Lara blamed him for everything that had happened. But what could he have done in that situation? He would not beg anyone.

And then suddenly it was raining cats and dogs. Simon swore, as he looked up to the sky as if waiting for some answer that did not come. There were such clouds towering above them that it did not seem that the rain would stop within a month. It made them all soaked within minutes. They progressed slower and slower, despite the fact that Eddie was now leaning on Simon. The soil was loosened, their shoes sank deep into the mud.

"Lara!" - Simon said behind her. Lara turned and paused when she noticed that the two men stopped. Even she was tired, she could only imagine how Eddie felt. They were fighting their way up on a path, which was winding up on a hillside. "I think we should stop for a while." - Simon panted, exhausted.

"How far are we?" - Eddie asked leaning against a wet stone. It did not matter anyway, he was soaked to the bone.

"Maybe another two kilometres." - Lara said. "We are not getting forward very well."

"I'm sorry." - Eddie said quietly.

"Oh, it's not your fault." - Lara replied sweetly. "It's not that you wanted to get hurt." - she added. Simon was sure that if it had been him, Lara would have long taken it out on him. He approached her and gently pulled her aside.

"How long do you want to do this? He will not make it much longer anymore." – he whispered softly as he nodded his head towards Eddie.

"And what do you suggest I should do now? Leave him here?" – Lara countered impatiently.

"I can see you are not as understanding with me as with him." – Simon retorted, hearing the irritation in her voice.

"Do you have to do this?" – she looked at him irritably.

"What am I doing?" – he asked back, deliberately repeating the situation at the bar.

"Do you have to annoy me with something all the time?" – Lara whispered, not wanting Eddie to hear them.

"I annoy you? Are you serious now?" – Simon looked at her asking.

"Are you now repeating everything I say?" – Lara retorted.

"At least I answer the questions, not just sit there and say nothing." – Simon said, and their eyes met sharply again.

"So that's your opinion? I should have known, that it's all my fault." – Lara was furious.

"Why? Is it mine?" – Simon asked. Lara just opened her mouth to speak, but she could not answer anymore. Suddenly she felt as if the earth had moved beneath her feet.

"Goddammit!" - she cried out and the soil literally slipped out from under her feet.


	11. Chapter 11

A second later Lara heard that similar words left his mouth as well when they both started an unstoppable slide down the hillside. The sodden ground began to slope, and with a huge bang mud started to flow down, pulling them downwards. For a moment they did not know what was happening, their eyes were full of dirt, Lara's hands were grabbing in vain, she did not find anything to catch. With incredible speed they rumbled down between the trees, only blind luck hindering them to crash into anything. Simon instinctively tried to wipe the mud out of his eyes to see something, but did not like what revealed in front of his eyes. He was desperately searching for something that could stop them, but despite the dense undergrowth around them, he was simply unable to grasp anything.

"Take my hand!" - Simon shouted, and his arm reached towards Lara, who was swirling there in front of him in the mud. They were only a few meters away from the hole that Simon had seen. He had no idea what awaited them there or how deep it was. Lara did not know where her head was, she only saw green and mud swirling in front of her eyes. She did not even know how, but somehow grabbed his hand. Her eyes widened as she noticed the hole in front of her, and knew they were going to fall into it. She just open her mouth to scream when she felt a strong tug on her arm, and was hanging in the air. Only a low moan broke out of her, as she felt the tense muscles in her arms.

Simon managed to grab something in the very last moment before they would have crashed into the pit. Lara was already hanging below the surface, Simon was desperately trying to hold them both, but felt the wet leaves slipping through his fingers.

"Damn ..." – it broke out of him when he realised that he could not hold themselves and they continued to fall until they both plopped into the mud collected at the bottom of the gap. The splash stirred up the gooey dirt, and they completely immersed in it for a moment.

"Well, that's great" - Lara said at last, after she sat up snorting and wiped the disgusting mud out of her eyes. She looked up to the top, which was perhaps five meters above their heads. "Now how the hell do we get out of here?" - she mused aloud. Suddenly, a sound hit her ears, which she would have expected the least. Simon was sitting in front of her in the mud, and he broke out in laughter. Both of them were muddy beyond recognition, almost only their two eyes looked out. "You're insane." - Lara stated, as she looked at the man, who could not stop laughing, then finally a smiled appeared on her face and then eventually she airily laughed out as well.

In the last days, after the hard work, after the attack, after all the difficulties, it was the first time that she laughed with relief. She did not even know why. The situation was not rosy, she had no idea how to get out, and did not care at all. Without thinking her hand grabbed into the mud, and playfully threw some on Simon, who raised his eyebrows for a moment with astonishment.

"Well, so this is the game you are playing." - Simon said with feigned vexation in his voice, and did not cop out of the challenge. Within seconds hell broke loose, and they were like two kids who were playing in the mud completely forgetting about themselves. Lara suddenly found herself enjoying it in a way that she had not felt for a long time. Suddenly, Simon's face was directly in front of hers, and they both stopped in the middle of the move, Lara sitting on the ground, Simon kneeling over her. His hand started towards her face so slowly that it was almost tantalising and gently wiped off the mud. His fingers brushed over her lips, and Lara closed her eyes and just enjoyed his touch. The next moment she felt his lips on her, he kissed her exactly as she expected it. Soft, gentle, yet passionate. His movements became more and more greedy, increasingly demanding. "I want you so much" - he breathed in her mouth while their lips hardly even separated for a moment from each other. His voice and his words jerked Lara back to reality though, and suddenly she pushed him away.

"Damn, you have no right to do this to me!" - indignation broke out of her, as she shook her head to clear her mind. Simon was wondering for a moment what had happened, all his senses went numb totally if he was close to her.

"Now what's wrong with you?" - he asked in surprise.

"You still ask?" – Lara looked at him and tried to drag farther away from him.

"Yes, because I want to finally understand you. You simply drive me crazy." - rage began to spread like wildfire in him again, he could not understand why she was playing with him so wickedly. "One moment you are cold as stone, then you sleep with me, then send me to hell, then again you are nice, and finally you attack me that it's all my fault. Can you eventually decide what you want?" - Simon exclaimed, and he jumped to his feet angrily.

"At least we know that it's not what you want." – she said pungently, while she was on her feet too, whereupon Simon flew into a rage.

"How do you know? We never talked about it." - he retorted. "I'm really sorry but I cannot read your mind yet."

"I do not have to!" – Lara was staring daggers at him.

"Oh I see. I'm still good enough to satisfy your physical needs, but then that was it." - Simon could not restrain his anger, although he immediately regretted the statement, as it left his mouth. Lara's hand snapped hard on his face as she slapped him, and he made no attempt to stop her. He would have loved to slap himself for what he had said, but he could no longer change it. They just stared at each other, as if they had met for the first time, Lara then simply turned away in disappointment, and Simon looked after her so desperately that it almost maddened him.

...

Perhaps an hour had elapsed, while they squatted at the bottom of the stack, the farthest possible from each other. Lara hugged her knees and Simon strolled aimlessly, hoping to find some way out. But no matter that roots hung out of the ground, they had no chance to climb on them.

"May I help you?" - they both snatched their heads at the voice, as if some kind of a divine salvation had arrived. Eddie's face was grinning back at them from above. "It took me a long time to find you, I'm not too fast with my leg." - he explained, but neither of them was really interested in the story, they just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

Lara did not even wait till Simon was out of the pit, she already started back down the path. Eddie helped Simon, and looked at him rather querying, but Simon did not say a word. Only the rain continued to hammer consistently on the wet road. Lara walked a good ten meters ahead of them, not even looking back, she simply did not the strength for it. Even then his words echoed in her head, and she did not want to admit to herself that he was right. She behaved like a madman lately, but when Simon was in the vicinity, she could not think. He brought everything to the surface that Lara wanted to bury in herself. At the same time she was attracted to him so strongly that it caused physical pain, and she wanted to avoid him as far as possible. She lifted her face towards the sky, letting the water run down on it and wash away the mud, but she could not escape the burning feeling that his lips left behind on her skin.

"Did I miss something?" - Eddie asked Simon curiously, as he hobbled beside him, both watching Lara walking in front of them. Simon also had an expression on his face, as if being carried to an execution. "Quarrel?" - Eddie tried to pull something out of him.

"I do not think that I would like to discuss this matter with you." - Simon said stiffly.

"Do you see anyone else here?" - Eddie joked. "I have a feeling that you two were not running into each other for the first time in your lives." - Eddie watched Simon's face, who could not take his eyes off Lara.

"Really? What an observant you are." - Simon retorted sharply.

"Well, tell me!" - Eddie chatted on as if nothing had happened, but Simon looked at him as if not believing his ears. "Come on." - Eddie continued with a grin. "You British are so stiff. Relax!"

"Leave me alone." - Simon grumbled, but Eddie did not give up.

"Passionate chick, huh? I've already experienced." - Eddie mused, then loosely nudged Simon and winked. Simon clenched his hands behind his back, he needed all his strength to restrain himself. "She must be wild in bed." - Eddie added, and Simon was at the end of his tether. Using both hands, he grabbed Eddie's shirt and pulled him in anger, as if wanting to kill him right away. "Hey!" - Eddie exclaimed, but could not say anything else. Lara snatched her head at the voice, and immediately ran back to them.

"Are you crazy? What's wrong with you?" – she shouted at Simon, pushing him away with both hands and he almost lost his balance, but he still did not take his eyes off Eddie. Lara stood protectively in front of Eddie, looking at Simon as if he had committed some capital crime. She angrily turned away, pulling Eddie with her, and walked on, leaving Simon to himself.

Simon just looked at them, but did not care at all. He simply could not stand to listen to the words of the American, who had already openly boasted to the others, but now had clearly gone too far. Simon could not understand why Lara defended him. Or did she not realise what his intentions were? She could not be so blind. He watched them slowly getting forward in the mud, then Lara walked over to the roadside to look around, which way to go.

"The place must be somewhere down there." - Simon could barely hear her voice through the pouring rain. And then suddenly it happened again, Lara simply disappeared from their sight, and just slid down the hillside. Simon jumped after her without thinking.

They did not see anything, everything was swirling around in front of their eyes, but somehow she grabbed his arm. He groaned in pain as they fell into a similar watershed as before, and Lara landed on the top of him.

"Why did you do this?" – she continued to quarrel with him, as soon as she was able to stand up.

"What do I know. I didn't think." – he muttered, still lying on the ground as he tried to pull himself together.

"I don't often do that lately." - she was furious, but something suddenly caught her eyes behind him, and she immediately fell silent. Immersed in thoughts she approached the narrow opening she noticed among the roots. Would it be possible? - she thought to herself. Slowly they must have been at the place. Would it be so easy? Simon only noticed then that Lara was approaching the two meters high narrow crevice, and she looked curiously into the dark.

"Wait!" - Simon called out, but Lara already begun to squeeze herself through the opening, despite the fact that she had no idea what was in front of her. Simon had no choice, but to follow her. The crevice was extremely narrow, the walls were wet, clinging to their bodies, as they tardily made progress. "Lara!" - Simon tried again. "What the hell are you doing?" – he whispered, though he did not know why. Somehow this place made him do so.

"I feel that this is the place." – Lara said, bursting forward unstoppably. The only light source was a small flashlight in her hand. The whole rift made a depressing impression, claustrophobia began to take over on Simon, but he could not turn back. "Well." - Lara said finally, and then entered a more spacious place, squeezing herself out of the crevice. The whole thing was a dark pit, but as she looked around with the lamp, she noticed a small indentation in the back wall.

"What do you hope to find here? I do not think that that's the place for the big secret, Kowalski is after." – Simon said behind her as he inhaled the musty air.

"For example, this." - she laughed, as she grabbed the small plate from the hole and pushed it under his nose. Suddenly she had forgotten about her earlier annoyance as she realised what she found. "The Spaniards are more inventive than I thought." - she said absently, and then raised the light on Simon, who put his hands in front of his eyes.

"What the hell is that?" - Simon blinked. "Would not stop lighting in my eyes?" - somehow he did not find the situation as funny as Lara did. She just opened her mouth to respond when suddenly a strange tremor ran through the entire room. They both looked around startled, then Simon suddenly threw himself on the ground in front of the entrance, and Lara glimpsed him holding up a huge stone plate, which nearly blocked the only way out. She could see it on his face that he would not be able to hold on for long. "Come on! Move!" – the words broke out of him in gasps, Lara barely understood them.

She crawled, and as fast as she could, climbed out through the hole. Simon's arms trembled as he lay on his back, trying to keep the stone like giant dumbbells. Everything else was ruled out of his head, he concentrated so much. He did not even notice that Lara climbed closely beside him. Carefully, he was trying to inch out from below the stone, but he felt that he would not be able to keep it. His muscles were tense, the weight was coming closer to his chest as it pushed his arms down.

"Get out now!" - Lara shouted as she needed all her strength to support the weight so that Simon could crawl out. With a loud thump the stone landed at the exact place where he was lying just a moment before. They both were panting from the exhaustion, but they did not need words, they knew what the other was thinking. _Although it would not hurt slowly to say out what we want_ - Simon thought to himself, and followed Lara, who pressed herself into the narrow crevice again.

"I think we will need a dry place." - Lara said as they got back to the original hole, from where they started. A very familiar plate of glass was held in her hands, with the same lighthouse on it. Only this time the glass was blue.

It took them two hours of wandering till they found a cave to spend the night. Slowly it was getting dark. Eddie was exhausted, he fell to the ground, while Simon tried to light a small fire, but it was pretty hard to achieve, as it was raining heavily the whole day.

"I hope it will work with the flashlight too, because sunlight can't be expected in the near future." - Lara mused, while trying to sit on the floor as comfortably as possible and leaned against the hard wall. She took the glass, which she carefully wrapped into the first-aid box not to break it. Having spread out a map of the ground, she lifted the glass, illuminating it with the flashlight. All three eagerly watched to see what was happening. The lines slowly appeared, this time in blue, Lara was busy drawing on the copy. When everything was in place, she put the glass at the given place, and drew a big mark to their next destination. "That was it." - she said enthusiastically. "It's not even that far, but we still have a bit of a walk ahead of us tomorrow."

"Let's not talk about tomorrow for a while." - Eddie had pain everywhere, he did not care if he had to lie on the floor, just wanted to sleep.

Lara moved closer to the fire as she began to feel cold in wet clothes, but to her biggest regret she could not replace them. So having no other choice, she curled up on the floor, and fell asleep so fast that she did not expect it.

...

There was daylight outside when Simon opened his eyes. The fire extinguished during the night, only some blackened pieces of wood were slightly smoking. He sat up on the floor, and then moaned softly as he felt the muscles in his back. Eddie was still asleep on the other side. Simon wiggled his stiff neck, then slowly looked around. Then he realised that Lara was nowhere. Suddenly fear passed through him. _I hope she did not leave alone_ - the thought crossed his mind. He sprang to his feet and ran out in front of the cave. The rain eased slightly, but did not stop. Simon felt that his clothes slowly got wet again, as he went in one direction looking for Lara. Only after wandering for about five minutes he heard water. He bent down and lifted her clothes, which were lying there on the lake shore. Surprised he looked around, but he could not see her. _What the heck?_ - he thought to himself. He was about to turn away to look somewhere else when he noticed her. Lara just came to the surface and swam to the small waterfall. The lake was not too deep, as she rose to her feet, the water reached only to her chest. Simon's eyes instinctively ran through her curves, as she stood under the waterfall, raised her face and enjoyed the water. He could not take his eyes off her, he stood there, like being rooted, as if he had seen her like this for the first.

He could not help it, memories popped in his head unstoppably. And soon again the last night in England was on his mind ... when all fell apart ...

_... Simon's head rested on Lara's stomach and listened as her racing heartbeat slowly went back to the normal rhythm. He loved these quiet, calm moments after the storm, when neither of them said a word, just trying to collect themselves. The patio door was open, the silence of the night was not broken by anything. Simon sometimes gently touched his lips to her belly, his fingers drew small circles on her skin, while he was breathing deeply. Her smell filled everything. In Simon's head a lot of things were spinning he had long wanted to say, but it never took place. With a sudden motion, he lifted his head and looked deep into her eyes._

_"Lara! I want you to leave everything here, and come with me!" – it broke out of him without really thinking about it. Lara did not respond for a moment, he noticed a slight cringe in her eyes. As the seconds passed, the silence around them became increasingly oppressive._

_"How do you mean this now?" - she countered softly. A slight uncertainty was lurking in her voice._

_"I want you to be with me." - Simon replied hotly._

_"But I am with you." - Lara said kindly, and she stroked his hair._

_"I want it all. Marry me and let's get away from here." - Lara raised an eyebrow, but she did not respond. There was silence in the room again, and a weird feeling passed over Simon. "You don't want it?" - he asked uncertainly._

_"You cannot ask this from me." - Lara said, and slowly moved away from under him, pulling the sheet over her. Simon sat up, looked at her asking._

_"What are you talking about? Look at me, please." - Simon tried to pull her back towards him, but Lara resisted. Simon liked the situation less and less, jumped out of bed and went to the other side of it. "Now what's wrong with you? I thought this was something serious between us." - he began to feel upset. "But it seems from the two of us here, only I feel this way." - Lara did not know what to say. She had no idea what she felt, she never made thoughts about this. Simon stared at her for a while, and then still not having received a reply, he yanked his pants on, and with three quick steps he was at the door. "Let me know when you changed your mind."_

_"Simon!..." - Lara called after him, but she was too late. He angrily swept out of the room and slammed the door behind him. Lara just looked to her, not understanding for a long time what had happened. The room cooled off just as quickly behind him, as the passion flared up before ..._

... Simon shook his head to get rid of the memories. It still hurt him how things ended between them, so suddenly, so unfinished. But fate intervened, and Lara did not look for him, it was not important for her. Simon was buried in work, and tried to forget.


	12. Chapter 12

Lara ducked again, gliding in the water without any movement towards the coast. After the previous day's ordeal she longed for nothing more than a shower. This was not a perfect solution, but it was just as good. Quietly she sneaked out of the cave, and did not have to try long to find the small lake. The loneliness felt good, it turned off her brain. She stepped out of the water, not really caring whether anyone was around, there was very little chance for that anyway. The bandage began to get dirty on her arm, her shoulder also would have needed a new one just to be safe. But she did not want to ask Simon. Carefully she put on her clothes, she felt a little better, but not much. In turn the spirit of adventure arose in her, she wanted to know what was to be found at that place on the map.

As she returned to the cave, the two men were sitting silently at the remains of the fire, and apparently only waiting for her to join them.

"Good Morning" - Eddie said in his the usual effortless style. "We thought you had run away." – he joked. Lara smiled faintly, her eyes scanning Simon's face, who now could not hide his thoughts from her, but she did not deal with it any further. Lara also sat down next to them, and opened the map on the ground. After a brief survey she spoke out.

"Our target is about twenty miles from here. If we start now, we could be there in a couple of hours." – she mused, looking querying at the others.

"It will not depend on me. My leg is doing much better." - Eddie said, and to prove the assertion, he rose up from the ground.

"Then let's head to the south." - Lara gave the instructions, and left the cave.

The weather was not favourable to them, the rain fell steadily, the air was humid, so that they could hardly breathe. They could not decide whether their clothes were wet with sweat or rain. Simon went ahead a bit, so as not to run into some surprise, and Lara tried to help Eddie, as much as she could.

"Do I see well that there is some tension between you?" - Eddie asked Lara after a while, just out of idle curiosity.

"I do not want to talk about that." - slight confusion ran over Lara's face hearing the question.

"It's amazing that you're just as secretive as our friend. Is that a requirement for English people?" - Eddie mused, somewhat annoyed that he could not get anything out of her.

"What do you mean? What did you ask him?" - Lara drew up her eyebrows.

"Nothing special, but your friend is very sensitive." – he continued joking.

"That's why he attacked you? What did you say to him?" - the topic piqued her curiosity. So far, she could not imagine why Simon had jumped on Eddie. She thought it was childish jealousy, but according to this he did have a reason. Lara really wanted to know what it was.

"Nothing really, not important." - Eddie said absently, turning away as if he considered the conversation ended. Lara was very thoughtful about what she had heard. If Eddie did not want to talk about it, it was sure that the comment was made about her if he did not want to repeat it in front of her. So something like this made Simon angry so much? Interesting - Lara thought to herself.

As they walked slowly forward, suddenly, they noticed that they caught up with Simon, who was standing at the side of a river, frowning heavily. Due to the rainfall, the water level was rather high, the river raced swiftly in front of their eyes.

"Now what?" - Simon asked thoughtfully. "It does not seem easy."

"But we have to get over to the other side." - Lara said, but she did not really like the idea either. It seemed almost impossible to swim against the drift.

"Where exactly is this place we have to go to?" - Eddie inquired, who was still limping. For him this undertaking would have been the most difficult. They were climbing in ankle-deep mud already for hours that was quite exhausting for him.

"According to the map we are not far behind. But I find the landscape has changed considerably over the past few hundred years. Here there is no word yet about the river in this area." - Lara stated, walking up and down the riverbank.

"Are you sure that we have to go through this? Can't we get there any other way?" - Simon asked.

"Of course I'm sure, otherwise I wouldn't have said that." - she replied a bit annoyed, though she did not know why. She was simply unable to control herself.

"All right, just asking. You don't need to get that harsh right away." – Simon retorted, but Lara did not feel like quarrelling, so she did not answer.

"Standing here does not resolve anything. Let's go." - Eddie said, knowing that there was no other choice.

Simon slowly stepped in, but already after a few steps he felt the drift of the water wrapping his leg, even if it was just waist-deep. Cautiously he walked more in, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep his balance. This is a very bad idea - he thought, but there was no way back anymore really, as he was getting deeper. For a moment he looked back and saw that Eddie also started in, and shortly afterwards Lara too. Eddie seemed to need all his strength only to keep himself on his feet. Despite the fact that Simon was not particularly fond of him, he did not want anything to happen to him. Especially not because most probably it would have been him, who had to get him out of trouble. Fortunately, the river did not prove to be deep, even in the middle it only came up to the chest of Simon, which was reassuring as they would have had no chance to swim anyway. However, such an amount of water was pouring down from the mountains that the drifting was becoming unbearable.

Simon suddenly became aware of Eddie screaming out. Snatching his head back, he just saw that Eddie was flapping his arms, and then suddenly was caught by the drift and disappeared under the water, then came to the surface a few meters away, but was just helplessly adrift. He did not know why this surprised him, but his eyes widened when Lara jumped after him without thinking. Goddammit! – he cursed to himself, when she was already meters away from him. He had no other choice.

He could not imagine that the water would yank him with such speed, there was almost no chance to steer themselves in any direction. Still trying the impossible, he tried to paddle in the direction in which he guessed Eddie to be. He could not see anything anymore. Sometimes he ducked and then he came back to the surface, spitting water. He felt that the water raced faster and faster around him, the noise of it strengthened to an almost unbearable level. Only the crazy murmur of the water could be heard, the river and the grey sky melted with the environment, he completely lost his sense of direction. The others disappeared entirely from sight, he could not even understand what it was good for that he jumped after them, but he wasn't able to think. For a moment he rose above the water again, and then realised why the current was so fast. The horizon was lost in the void, and the river disappeared from sight.

A moment later he helplessly fell down with the meters high waterfall, and then painfully splashed into the water at the bottom. He completely submerged, all sounds died away, and he was surrounded by comforting silence. Finally Simon kicked himself towards the surface, and inhaled deeply. Looking around anxiously, he was relieved to notice that Lara and Eddie were climbing out to the bank not far from him. After the waterfall the river calmed, Simon was able to swim ashore without any effort. He struggled to the shore, and sprawled on the ground. He heard the others panting heavily as they tried to gather themselves.

"Everybody's all right?" – he asked after a short time, when he had enough air to speak again.

"I think so." - Eddie said, but he was still lying motionless on the ground.

"It would be nice to know where we are now." - Lara pushed herself to her feet, and looked around curiously. Simon had always admired her energy. She pulled out her PDA from her bag to set out their position. "Not too bad, this was even advantageous. We almost fell onto the spot." - she said, smiling. "Although this river was not here that time yet, it made it easier for us to get down the cliff." – Lara continued absently, looking up at the top of the waterfall.

"Well, if you call it relief that we almost drowned." - Simon mused to himself. Lara just looked at him irritably.

"Don't complain all the time." – she retorted, but meanwhile she started down the riverside, with the map in her hand, her eyes frantically scanning the area. "Either way, the coordinates show exactly there where the waterfall is." – she mused, immersed in her thoughts. "Something must be on the cliff behind it."

"What?" - Simon raised his head. "You don't mean that seriously, do you?" – he said looking back at her almost desperately.

"I'm afraid she does." – Eddie joined the conversation. But there was no time left for them to contemplate because Lara dove into the water and swam behind the waterfall.

"This woman drives me crazy, you don't have a peaceful moment with her." - Simon grumbled, while he rose wearily to his feet. "You stay here, I take a look what she is doing." - he said, and then started towards the river. When he jumped into the water, Lara was nowhere to be seen. Where the hell is she? – he wondered for a while, but soon enough it became clear that there was only one way she could have gone.

Lara swam into the passage she discovered under the waterfall. Long ago it was probably just a cave, which was later submerged when the river changed its path during the centuries. This time, the only difficulty was that after having moved away from the entrance, there is no light filtering in. The darkness was complete, which almost became creepy. She collided into a wall after a short time, it took her a few seconds to realise that she had to swim upwards. Not being able to follow anymore how much she swam up, her head suddenly came to the surface. Relieved she drew a deep breath. Quickly Lara took out the flashlight, treading the water in one spot, and looked around. The edge of the cliff was still one and a half meters above her head. This would have been a nice climb if the water had not filled up the corridor - she thought to herself. Lara swam to the wall and cautiously grabbed the first stone on the wall. Her muscles tightened as she pulled herself out of the water. Just a few moves were needed to make the distance and Lara pulled up at the top.

The darkness was even more impenetrable, as if she was completely blinded. Dust that her movements stirred up from the floor swirled in the light of her lamp. She hardly took a few steps when something caught her attention.

"Damn it, Lara!" - Simon snorted behind her in the water-filled passage. Lara turned the head, but she could not yet see Simon who still had to climb out of the water. Lara sighed resignedly and walked over to the slot to pull him up.

"What are you doing here?" - she asked impatiently.

"Somebody must take care that you don't kill yourself." - Simon said absently, while his eyes scanned the area already. At least as much as he could see. Lara just waved her hand angrily, and continued inside. "What is this place?" - Simon asked in amazement.

"I don't know, probably even the Spaniards found it by accident. It does not look like it would be the work of human hands." – Lara mused, slowly moving forward. Her eyes narrowed at a stone pillar, which was not far ahead of them, emerging from the darkness as the light fell on it. And on the top of it stood the familiar glass plate. Lara did not care about anything else, she slowly approached it and carefully reached out. Her fingers gently slid down the green glass before grabbing it. She took it out of its place and watched it in amazement. It still impressed her. Then some strange, increasingly loud crash filled the room that sounded in the stifling darkness like a clap of thunder. The light flashed in Lara's hand as she nervously moved it from one place to another. The next moment she only felt that Simon was jumping towards her and dragged her to the floor. They flew maybe two meters before landing on the hard stones, Simon's body protectively on hers. The place where the glass had been standing before almost ceased to exist when a huge rock crashed down and broke the pillar apart.

"Lara!" - Simon said when he felt that her body moved beneath him, struggling to get away. "Slow down!" - he looked at her anxiously. "Are you okay?"

"Sure. Thanks. Don't worry about me "- her voice trembled slightly, as Simon smoothed her hair out of her face. _Easy to say that_ - Simon thought to himself. They just looked at each other for a moment, awkward, but still thrilling silence was vibrating between them. Then he slowly rose, and pulled her up. "Let's go, Eddie must be worried where we are gone." - Lara finally said, moving her gaze away in embarrassment.

"Sure, Eddie. I've almost forgot about him." - Simon said sarcastically, and then went after her.

Lara was looking forward to reaching a place where she could finally take a look at the map. She did not want to risk it, to get it out in the cave, being afraid that the first collapse would be followed by new ones, and they got buried under the stones. In addition, she did not want to stay alone with Simon longer than necessary. The situation already became quite dangerous for her. She was afraid that she would not be able to resist him, no matter how much she wanted to, just as she had never been able to in the past. She wanted to busy herself, she wanted to see the map, wanted to know what was on it.

Under the dense woods they could not feel the slight rain anymore. Ceremonially Lara took the glass and the lights out of her bag.

"Let me use your back." - she said to Simon, as she walked over to him with the map in her hands.

"Thanks for this great opportunity." - he muttered under his breath while he felt it on his skin that Lara was busy drawing on paper. In a few minutes she was ready, chewing the end of the pencil she intently studied what she saw. Simon stood up, walked up to her and took the map. "What does that mean?" – he asked with astonishment after a few seconds.

"What do you think I am thinking about now?" - Lara looked at him in mild irritation.

"The gods be with you on the way." - Eddie read aloud a short text that appeared on the map. The situation changed compared to the previous times now, a short sentence appeared next to the destination.

"As far as I know the Spaniards were always Catholics. Why do they use Gods in plural? "- Simon asked the question that also bothered Lara.

"Exactly. This is what also disturbs me. What the hell are they talking about? "- she mused.

"But we have the coordinates. Let's go and see." - Eddie suggested simply.

"I don't like it." - Simon said. "It's too silent, too many coincidences, the whole thing is strange." - and this time Lara exceptionally agreed with him, but did not say it.

"What do you mean, it's too silent?" - Eddie asked back as if not knowing what Simon was talking about.

"Don't tell me that you don't find it strange that we have not heard anything from Kowalski since the last attack?" - Simon retorted, before he continued to study the map.

"They just lost our trail. Is this also a problem now that no one is shooting at us?" - Eddie was surprised, but Simon just waved and walked over to Lara's side, who was thinking leaning against a tree.

"So what? It's at least sixty kilometres away. We never get there with this pace." - he said quietly, as if Eddie was not there.

"I don't know, I have no idea. We simply go, and we'll see what happens." – Simon could see it on her face that she was not really paying attention and had something else on her mind, only responded to say something.

"Lara! Would you listen to me for a moment?" – Simon looked at her, and came even closer what made Lara raise her head. "We should go back and come prepared. People, equipment ... "- Simon went on, but Lara interrupted.

"That's out of question. You said that you don't like it that Kowalski is so silent. Just waiting to grab whatever is there. And I'll outrun him." - Lara said assertive.

"And how do you imagine this? Do we oppose a whole army with two guns and a guy, who can hardly walk?" - Simon looked at her incredulously.

"I still don't see any army here. We only need to act quickly and there will be no problem." - Lara pushed herself away from the tree and was ready to go, but Simon grabbed her arm.

"Try to think a bit now. This time it's not only about you and your work." - Simon spoke to her a little bit stronger than intended. Lara jumped to his voice.

"Nobody forces you to anything. Feel free to leave any time you want, just like you did before." – she retorted a bit coldly as their eyes met. "And now please let me go." - Lara pulled her arm away, Simon felt just as helpless as he had that night.

"Can you hear that?" - Eddie suddenly asked as he ran to them. Lara raised her head and then she heard it too. There was no room to doubt that a vehicle approached them from somewhere. "Now what?" - Eddie looked at them querying.


	13. Chapter 13

"I'll see what it is." - Simon said and ran into the woods before anyone could utter a word. However, Lara did not care to be cautious anymore because Simon drove her angry. Again.

"Come on!" - she said to Eddie and ran after Simon. Eddie could hardly keep up with her.

Simon flattened against a tree trunk, suspiciously watching the truck, which slowly approached on the muddy road. Yet it was far enough that he could not make out anything of it. He could not decide whether it posed a threat to them. So he waited. For a moment he picked up his head, when the bushes moved behind him, but only Lara and Eddie appeared, and they hid as well.

"Who are they?" - Lara whispered.

"I don't know, but soon we'll find out." - Simon replied, but he did not take his eyes off the road. It seemed as if the vehicle had approached with supernatural slowness. He was drumming nervously with his hands. Lara did not know why, but smiled as she watched him. Despite permanently picking at each other and fighting over everything, she could not really be angry with him anymore. Though Simon still upset her and made her react to his remarks in a way that she originally did not intend.

The vehicle came closer and closer, a large grey military truck unfolded in front of their eyes, but then they noticed something that attracted their attention.

"This is some kind of a medical service." - Simon said enthusiastically. "We need to stop it, maybe they can take us with them for a while." – he was about to step out of the bushes, but Lara stopped him.

"Leave it to me, there might be less chance they think I'm a terrorist." – she said with a smile, and stepped away from Simon, who only looked after her in surprise. Lara slipped out of the bushes, and once again carefully watched the approaching vehicle to make sure it was not the men of Kowalski. She had to risk it. Hiding the gun in her hand behind her back, she stepped out of the shelter. She saw that the driver noticed her and looked at her suspiciously as she was waving on the side of the road, but the car began to slow down and eventually stopped. Lara came closer and opened the door.

"Well, what are you doing here in the jungle?" – the drive looked at her, carefully eyeing her. It was an older man, a younger woman sitting next to him, who was most probably his assistant.

"Thanks for stopping. We conducted research in the area, but we lost the others. One of my colleagues got injured. Could you take us with you? We should move towards the north." - Lara tried to use her friendliest voice, and then sent a slightly desperate look at the man, who watched her for a while, then spoke.

"Okay. Jump back up, we are also driving to the north for a while, but I don't know where you want to go." - he was still cautious, it was not safe to just pick up strangers around here.

"I would be grateful if you take us as far as possible." - Lara motioned to the others, Simon and Eddie appeared on the roadside. "There are only the three of us, our friend injured his leg. Would it be possible that you take him to the nearest town?" – Lara asked.

"And what about you? You don't want to come with us? "- The man looked at her in surprise.

"We've got to find our companions." – Lara lied because she did not want to become suspicious.

"As you wish." - the man replied, then motioned them to get in.

Simon helped Eddie up to the back and then pulled up Lara as well. All three plopped wearily to the floor. Lara found a first aid kit in the corner, and leaned over to Eddie. He hissed softly as she pulled the bandage off his leg.

"I think it's time to replace it." - she said and began to fasten the man's leg with gauze. Eddie looked at her gratefully, when she was finished.

"Your arm could use a fresh bandage as well." - Eddie said and was about to reach for the kit, but Simon interrupted.

"You just relax, I'll do it." - he said and Lara did not feel like arguing. She wanted to use it for a while that it was quiet, so she sat back and let Simon get to it. First, he took off the patch on her shoulder, for a moment only looking at the wound, which had already begun to heal. He could hardly stand not to touch it with his finger, he wanted to feel her skin, but restrained himself. Finally, he tied the other cut on her arm, and sat down again. For a while silence reigned among them, none of them had the energy to speak.

"The driver said they were going about thirty miles to the north, which is just right for us." - Lara finally broke the silence. "If we hurry up, we could get to our destination even before it gets dark." - then Lara looked at Eddie. "You will go with them, and let them help you." - she saw that Eddie opened his mouth to oppose, but she was faster. "Don't be stubborn, you can't come with us like this. I don't want you to get shot." - she added kindly and Eddie did not say anything, just nodded meekly.

...

Lara and Simon were standing in the thick underbrush again, and watched the truck moving away. The rain calmed a bit, almost completely stopped for a while. Once the vehicle disappeared from sight, Lara turned, and started towards the woods, while Simon followed silently. Neither of them spoke a word. It was not even a question if Simon went with her, it was clear for both of them. Lara did not attempt to dissuade him, she did not confess it to herself either, but she needed it not to go alone. Nevertheless, there was still quite a tense atmosphere between them, but something had changed. There was not really anger in the air, but rather some embarrassing confusion. As if they had not known what to say to each other. So they quietly continued forward, Lara walking in front of Simon, not looking back at him. She glanced at her watch, they had to try harder if they wanted to reach the place before darkness settled. As they progressed Simon was increasingly disturbed by the silence.

"Lara?" – he called out after a while. "Don't you think that we behave like children?" - he said gently. Lara stopped hearing the question and just wanted to turn when a bullet whistled in front of her and crashed into a tree trunk. If she had not stopped, it would have hit her. They immediately responded, and threw themselves to the ground.

"Who the hell is shooting at us?" - Lara asked nervously while crawling into the woods.

"I have no idea." - Simon panted. "But it certainly came from the right."

"Let's get out of here!" - Lara said, they jumped to their feet, and ran in the opposite direction. As they appeared in the bushes, the bullets began to hail around them. They were hardly able to avoid them.

"We need to split up!" - Simon shouted. "You go right and I'll meet you over there at the rocks." – he pointed forward and immediately changed direction. Lara paused for a moment, but then started to run, holding the gun, but they still could not see who they should shoot at. Using her arms, she cleared the plants out of her way, then stopped so abruptly, she almost lost her balance. From behind a tree the barrel of a machine gun looked back at her coldly. The mercenary stood stiffly in front of her, training the gun at her, and Lara had no time to react to anything. Slowly she raised her hands, eyes narrowed, eyeing her opponent. But it seemed the man did not give himself easily, did not leave any possibilities for Lara to attack. When she took a step forward, the man stepped back to keep their distance. Then the situation got worse, Lara became aware of movement beside her, and two armed appeared from the trees. Well, this is fantastic - she thought to herself, as one of the men took the gun from her and shoved her hard. Despite feverishly thinking, she could not find a way out. She had no chance against three men with guns.

Suddenly a shot was fired, and one of the men standing beside Lara fell to the ground. For a moment no one knew what had happened, they looked around nervously. Lara then noticed that Simon ran towards them through the woods. She moved quickly and grabbed the neck of the other armed man, while Simon as if flying, jumped at the first soldier, who was standing a little further away. The gun was fired, and then the two men bumped into each other, a bitter fight developed. Lara acquired the pistol, but had no chance to intervene. She startled when the gun fired again, and the two men froze motionless. Everything seems to have stopped for a moment, then they both plopped to the ground, the man's body fell onto Simon, who also did not move. Lara ran to them, and rolled the unmoving body off Simon, who opened his eyes and groaned.

"Why did you do this now?" - Lara's voice sounded worried as she ran up to him and knelt down beside him. _You could have been killed_ ...

"I don't know, I had to do something." - Simon rose a little, then pressed his hand to the bleeding wound on his side. _You know I'd do anything for you_ ...

"Let me see it!" - she gently pulled up the shirt on the man's belly and softly touched the skin. Simon hissed as she approached the wound. _God, I could have lost you_ ...

"It's nothing, he didn't really hit me." - Simon sat up, but Lara pushed him back to the ground. _I love it when you're worried about me_ ...

"First it needs to be dressed." - and she already reached for her bag, with skilled movements her hands were doing their job. _I'm so sorry, if I could turn back time ._..

"Careful!" - Simon muttered, but he felt his muscles relax under her fingers. _It's so good to feel your touch again_ ...

"Calm down, I know what I'm doing." - Lara looked at him with played reprimand. _What a fool you are_ ...

"I know." - he slowly withdrew his hand and let her do what needed to be done. _I would not be anywhere else right now_ ...

"Hold your breath" – she said to him, smiling and did not even give him time to react before she used the antiseptic on the wound. _I wish things would have been any different _...

"Oh damn ..." - Simon suppressed the rest of the swearing as the burning sensation swept through his body. _I still adore you even if you torture me_ ...

"That was it." - Lara put a patch on the bandage and gently stroked over it. _Everything was so perfect_ ...

"Thanks." - Simon whispered when Lara was ready. _I need to get you back_ ...

"Come on, let's take a look what we find at that place." - Lara said to break the mood that was becoming far too intimate. Too many unspoken words were lingering in the air around them.

...

Lara was still moving forward with determination as it was beginning to grow dark. She was trying to dispel all other thoughts from her brain, but the feelings were increasingly swirling in her head. The more she was trying not to think about him, the less she succeeded.

"Lara!" - Simon said behind her. "It is totally dark, let's stop for the night." - Lara did not like the idea. Wearily she turned around when she noticed that Simon had stopped.

"Come on, don't do this. We're almost there." – she came to a halt looking at him, while it was still unstoppably raining ever since. "Let's not waste time!"

"I don't want to land at the bottom of a pit again which we would bump into because we are blind as bats." - Simon looked around dejectedly where they could spend the night.

"I don't want to stop and lose hours again." - Lara said angrily.

"You know what? Do what you want. If this is your only wish, you can go on as long as you want. In any case, I'm sick of the rain, the mud and I want to spend a couple of hours in a dry place." - Simon retorted angrily and without waiting for Lara to respond anything, he set off towards the rocks where he hoped to find some dry place. _How can anyone be so bloody-minded?_ – he grumbled to himself while stumbling on the stones. He could not comprehend that she managed to upset him again, but he could not do anything against it. Although he wanted nothing more than things would calm down and everything would be as it was before.

Lara was just standing there surprised for a while and could not decide what to do. On the one hand for some inexplicable reason she constantly had to contradict him, she simply did not want him to be right. Even if she did not want it, he still brought this reaction out of her. She was struggling for a couple of minutes, then finally gave up and went to find Simon.

By the time she discovered him, Simon was already engaged in trying to revive a small fire inside the cave. Simon looked up briefly as Lara entered through the opening, but made no comment. And she was too proud to say anything. She simply sat down at the entrance, facing away from him, pulled her knees up and stared at the rain, at the darkness.

Simon watched her for a while as she was sitting there a few meters from him so dismissive and he did not understand. He did not understand why they were fighting against each other with such passion when he knew that they wanted each other just as much as ever before. He bent his head and watched the tiny flames for a while as they were picking up strength.

"How did we end up like this, Lara?" - he asked softly, his voice sounded sad. "I wish you didn't hate me so much. I never wanted to hurt you."

Lara did not turn around, his voice deeply touched her. She had never heard him sound so desperate. She closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. "You know I don't hate you ..." – she replied in whispers that he could barely hear her.

"Then why do we quarrel all the time?" - Simon deliberately did not go any closer, he wanted to finally clarify things.

"It's not me who walked away without a word in the middle of the night." - Lara's voice trembled slightly.

"I had no choice. You left me no choice. I can't be with you if you don't let me close to you." - he finally wanted to know how Lara felt.

"You ask too much." - he heard the answer in a few seconds. Simon wanted to take advantage of the opportunity that Lara was talking to him so quietly, he had to know why she responded this way that night.

"Too much? Is it too much to ask you to be with me?" - he asked softly. Only the crackling of the fire could be heard. Simon was probably even grateful for not seeing her face.

"I can't just give up everything that has been my life. You can't ask this from me." – she whispered and there was no anger in her voice but rather some mild tremors.

"I never asked for this." - Simon said, but Lara did not let him go on and Simon did not interrupt her. He let her get rid of it all.

"How did you imagine what you said? I marry you and everyone lives his life just like before?" - Lara's voice began to become more vigorous as the memories broke to the surface, all that had hurt her.

"I don't know what I was thinking. I had simply said what I had felt. Is this such a great sin? You can't always have everything planned." - Simon replied resignedly. But inside he knew that if he could go back in time, he would not change anything, he would have just said the same things.

"And not once in three months did it come to your mind to call me at least?" - Lara wanted to go for it and just pour everything into his face. Question him why he had let her suffer, why he had not cared what she had felt but she knew she could not restrain herself if she looked at him and she did not want to fight. Not now. "I've been looking for you in the flat, but you were not there. I had no idea where you were. What do you think I was thinking?"

"I know I was stupid. Damn pride. But when you did not answer ... shit. It's all my fault." - Simon turned away staring at the wall where the flames cast strange shadows. "But when I saw you again ... I was like thunderstruck. And when I saw you with him, it was as if someone had punched me in the stomach. I behaved like an idiot. I'm sorry. Everything I wanted to say sounds like a worn out cliché. I hope that one day you can forgive me." – he continued with resignation, Lara had never heard him sound so frantic. "But you should know that whatever happened, I still love you."

A long silence followed his words, the last ones were echoing on the walls and Lara realised that he just said it out for the very first time. She could not breathe for a moment, as if every thought had run out of her mind. She heard Simon approaching her slowly.

"Dry your things, I'll be outside." – he said softly as he passed near Lara, who was still sitting on the ground. He knew that he needed to give her time to think through everything. He did not expect her to respond to anything. But when he stepped beside her, Lara touched his arm.

"Stay here with me, please." - she whispered. "I need you." - she slowly rose and stood in front of the man. "More than ever."

"Don't play with me, please. I don't survive again if you ..." – but he could not continue as she gently kissed him. Simon pulled her close, he tasted her and everything else was forgotten. This time greed did not raise its head, that insatiable hunger did not flare up. As if the anger had evaporated from both of them now that they had said out loud what they felt. Simon took her face in his hands and watched all her features as if he had seen her for the first time. His fingers wiped off the single teardrop, which was hiding in the corner of her eye before it could have rolled down her face. "You are so beautiful, I don't know what to say." - Simon whispered.

"Then just don't say anything." - Lara said softly and her lips touched his again. This time Simon no longer wanted anything else but to sink into her touches, to forget all that stood between them. They were carried away by the realisation, everything blurred into one huge mass around them. They did not care about anything, they did not feel the cold stones under their bodies. The tiny sighs, which ultimately merged into one long, deep breath, told everything and finally brought them the relief that they had been chasing so desperately. The shadows of the past were lost in the darkness of the night, which slowly and gently covered them completely.


	14. Chapter 14

Simon woke up from the barely perceptible move of Lara's body next to him. Even half asleep, he pulled her closer, and inhaled her scent, pressing close to her. He did not want to open his eyes, yet he wanted to enjoy this intimate moment that Lara was there with him and everything was like before. Inside he had been afraid that she would disappear again in the morning, and only the cold stones would welcome him, but he dismissed the idea. His hand slid down her arm, under her shirt and he hugged her waist from behind what made Lara smile softly, and she stretched herself, lazily, dreamily.

"Don't move!" - a rough voice said beside them, and they both jolted up so suddenly as if someone had splashed cold water on them. Five men were standing in front of them at the entrance of the cave with guns trained on them. "If I were you, I would not try that." - one man said coldly, when Lara's hand instinctively crept towards her pistols. The man nodded his head and did not have anything else to say. Lara and Simon held their hands up, got up and walked meekly to the wall, while two guys were searching their things. "Turn around!" - the man said, then someone pulled their arms back, and they were strongly tied behind their backs. "Come on!" - the man growled, and with another powerful move he pushed Lara, who turned around angrily.

"Calm down, just do as he says." - Simon whispered next to her, because he knew that there would be no chance to confront so many armed men.

"Move! Up to the car! "- the man gave them a hard shove once again, Simon almost lost his balance and Lara also stumbled several steps ahead. The soldiers pushed them in the rear of the truck, Simon fell to the ground, Lara landed painfully on him as they could not use their hands. Four men got in with them and aimed the machine guns on them, but then they did not say a word, just watched them stiffly, as they tried to pull themselves seated.

"How the hell did they find us?" - Simon cursed, but stopped when one of the men raised his weapon again. The truck progressed unstoppably on the bumpy road, making their situation more and more uncomfortable every minute. Their arms started to go numb as the ropes stretched tightly on their wrists, Lara angrily staring at the soldiers, and Simon knew he had to calm her down before she did something stupid. "Don't do anything, please." - he whispered to her and one man snarled at them again. After almost an hour of jerking around, the vehicle took a sharp right turn and then stopped. They were both roughly pulled up from the ground, and tossed out to the muddy road that they could barely stay on their feet.

"Where the hell are we? Who are you?" – Lara asked angrily, but the question resulted in just another powerful toss.

"Move" - one of the men grumbled, and pointed the gun forward stiffly, as if he only knew this one word. Simon stepped in front of Lara before she could answer, and gently shook his head, whereupon she took a deep breath and finally started. Although she looked like exploding with rage. After a few minutes of forced march they entered a cave entrance, which was initially only a thin flight, but it increasingly widened, and eventually joined into a huge hall, of which the other end could not be seen at all. A lot of equipment seemed to be gathered in there, but the work had not been started yet. At one edge of the cave a tall man was standing, Lara instinctively moved towards him until the barrel of a gun stopped her.

"Lady Croft, you finally arrived. I was looking forward to seeing you." - the man suddenly spoke out, looking at her briefly, then he turned to Simon.

"Who are you?" - Lara looked at him asking although she was convinced that she knew the answer.

"I think you know very well who I am." - he replied sarcastically while pacing up and down in front of them and studying them carefully.

"What do you want from us?" - Lara took a step forward, but again found herself against the muzzle of the gun.

"Please, Lady Croft. Let's not play with each other." – he smiled. "You know exactly why I brought you here. You're a smart woman, I don't need to explain myself."

"You brought me here?" - Lara looked at him in surprise.

"You think the MI6 had visited you accidentally?" - Lara raised her head and looked at Simon, who just shrugged.

"I told you it wasn't me." - Simon said, seemingly in an effortless manner.

"I sent them the information about you because I knew that if they approach you, you were going to come here and find this wonderful place for me." - he raised his arms and showed around the cave as if it had been all his. "Now you just need to find the book and I will finally reach what I wanted."

"Are you crazy? I'm not going to help you with anything." - Lara said angrily, shrugged off the gunmen and moved towards Kowalski, but she did not get very far. The mercenary kicked her from behind what made Lara fall to her knees on the ground. Simon exclaimed angrily, but he only reached that he was hit and he also flopped down.

"Come on, don't think that this will get you anywhere." - Kowalski laughed scornfully.

"How did you find this place at all? I had the map with me." - Lara asked in disbelief.

"I know very well. I was sure that this little hint in the cave would be enough for you, and you would find it. I only had to get the information in time." - he continued cheerfully.

"And that's where I come into the picture." - a voice said from a dark corner, then slowly he stepped forward. His left leg was still not in perfect shape, but he was not limping that much anymore. "I never thought it would be so easy to fool you." - Eddie smiled as he walked up next to Kowalski.

"You?" - Lara looked at him with fury glistening in her eyes, Simon was afraid that she would not be able to restrain herself although he felt like beating the guy himself.

"I'm sorry, Lara. We got along really well. But it does not have to end this way." – Eddie stepped closer to her and stroked her face as she was still kneeling in front of him, but Lara defiantly turned her head away from his touch.

"Go to hell!" – she hissed almost inaudibly, whereon Eddie laughed out easily.

"Somehow I didn't expect anything else from you." - Eddie walked back to his previous place, seemingly enjoying the situation.

"I don't help you, you can't make me anyway." - Lara said holding the two men's gaze stiffly. She felt a strong urge to get back on her feet, but she did not want to show that the situation would be uneasy for her.

"I think it's not going to be hard at all." - Kowalski said and slowly looked at Simon. "I heard that you two were more than just colleagues."

Lara's face flinched imperceptibly, but only Simon noticed this, though he tried not to look her way and give themselves away. Kowalski walked over to him with slow steps, Lara was thinking feverishly.

"Come on, just because I killed the time with him on the way, he doesn't mean anything to me." – she said in a measured voice, shrugging her shoulders as she looked angrily at Eddie.

"This means you also don't mind if I shoot the gentleman here." – and before Lara could even comprehend his words, Kowalski stepped in front of Simon, and with one fluid movement he grabbed a gun from his belt, pointed it on him and pulled the trigger. Again and again. Lara looked up in horror and such fear ran through her like never before in her life.

"NOOOoooooo!" – she cried out desperately, but her weakening voice was swallowed up in the spacious cave. Her cry was echoing for a short time between the walls, while gathering all her strength she was trying to jump off the ground, but with her hands being tied she was only capable of a few vague moves. She weakly fell back to the ground as she realized she could do nothing. "You fucking bastard!" – she broke out and lowered her head as a deep sigh left her lips.

"Stop playing with me and telling me all these stupid little lies else next time there will be bullets in the magazine." - Kowalski growled coldly, walking up to her. "I know everything about you, so either you do as I tell you or our little adventure will come to a very ugly end. But this way or the other, you will find the book for me." - Kowalski grabbed Lara's chin with one hand and forced her to look into his eyes. For a few seconds they were only staring at each other stiffly, Lara then pulled her head away of his grip. "So you better get to it" - he added and then threw a little booklet in front of Lara in the dust and walked away.

...

"What is this?" - Simon said softly as he stepped behind Lara, who intently stared at the little book. Thoughtfully she put it down on the rickety table, which stood in front of her and took a few hesitant steps. The two armed men were still standing a few meters away from them and watched their every move stiffly.

"I'm afraid that things are starting to become dangerous." - Lara whispered. "This booklet ..." – she started, but Simon came up to her and gently grabbed her two shoulders forcing Lara to look at him.

"Leave it all to hell. This is crazy." - Simon said softly. "Don't help him."

"You know I can't do that." - Lara again bowed her head and sighed resignedly.

"Of course you can, don't worry about anything else, just get the hell out of here." - Simon raised her face and kissed her wispy whereupon the soldiers trained their weapons on them.

"No." - Lara said firmly. "I'm going to find it and get it from him." Simon shook his head in disbelief. He knew that Lara would not stop here, just out of curiosity she would carry on. He knew her and loved her determination.

"What are you planning to do?" - Simon asked her as Lara went back to the table and picked up the booklet again.

"Everything is here in this cave. I just need a little time to figure out where." - she began to turn over the pages intently again_. Where did Kowalski get this notebook from?_ - the thought crossed her mind. She was angry with herself that he could so easily take advantage of her, that she did not realize what was going on. On the other hand she wanted to solve the secret, she wanted to know what this was all about.

...

Then Kowalski stepped into the small room where Lara and Simon were closed in with the two guards. After looking around briefly, he spoke.

"Bring them along" – he said to the two soldiers, who followed his orders without thinking. The men grabbed their arms, then tossed them out through the door.

"Hey, could you possibly say to these idiots that we can walk without help?" - Simon growled, but he was pushed forward again.

"Leave it." - Lara said ironically. "You can't buy manners."

Not even listening to them, Kowalski steadily progressed through the cave, two dozen soldiers joined them.

"So from here it's your job to find the right way." – Kowalski said, when after a short walk they arrived at a triple junction has and then tossed Lara forward. "And think well about the answer as your friend will be the first to go." - he added sarcastically. Lara's eyes met Simon's for a moment, the worry sparkled in her eyes, but he sent her an encouraging smile.

With the notes in her hands Lara stepped closer to the flights, but had no idea what to do. Each of the three passages looked the same as she illuminated them, only darkness welcomed her everywhere. Turning the pages nervously, she did not find any indication which may be the right way. Although there were some drawings on few pages, but none made any sense, only unrecognizable lines appeared at the edge of the pages.

"Come on! You have ten minutes, then I will choose." - Kowalski said coldly.

"This won't help. You need to give me some time to solve it." - Lara turned around, but she knew that there was no chance that the man would change his opinion.

"I gave you a whole hour before we left. Why didn't you use it?" – Kowalski retorted and turned away stiffly.

Lara was turning the pages of the booklet increasingly desperate, but found nothing. In the end, she even crumpled a few pages, when Kowalski gestured the mercenaries to get Simon.

"Okay, let's take the one in the middle. Go!" - the soldiers gave him a toss with a grin on their faces that made Simon stumble a few steps, then he came to a halt at the entrance. Lara started.

"Let me go ... I have experience with this." - she exclaimed frightened, but Kowalski laughed.

"Oh, no. I still need you. However, I don't really need him." – he said carelessly. "Go on, otherwise I will shoot her." - Kowalski aimed the pistol on Lara, who, seeing no other way out, opened the booklet again and then suddenly something caught her eyes. In the meantime Simon started slowly towards the passage and Lara knew he would not have much of a chance if they chose the wrong way.

"Wait!" - Lara suddenly cried out. "That's not the right direction." - Kowalski raised his head, looked at her questioningly. The booklet opened exactly where she crumpled the pages, and suddenly the image all cleared up in front of her eyes. The two outer edges of the pages got next to each other, and the meaningless lines immediately made sense. As if the trident of Poseidon had appeared there, the three spikes of it looking exactly as the three passages. "It's the right one." - Lara said softly as she ran her finger on the thickened line, which marked the right flight.

"Give him a radio and a lamp!" - Kowalski told one soldier who moved over to Simon. "Go, and don't attempt anything, otherwise I will be forced to get rid of the lady, no matter how much I would feel sorry about it." - he said sharply and nodded his head towards the corridor.

Simon sent a wordless look to Lara, then turned around and walked into the dark. He still remembered clearly, when they passed similar flights together, but that was different. Now he could only rely on himself, which was concerning. He could only hope that Lara came to the right solution. However he also did not really like the idea to leave her alone with that madman. But Lara had always been able to take care of herself. His footsteps echoed on the walls, as he moved forward, he felt his pulse accelerate. After taking a few more steps forward, suddenly a loud crash broke the silence and the flight was blocked behind him. He jerked his head back, but saw only solid rock.

"What happened?" – he heard Kowalski's nervous voice on the radio as they surely heard the noise too.

"I have no idea." - Simon growled.

"Solve it! You have half an hour." - the radio crackled loudly, and then again there was only silence around him.

"Well, that's great." - Simon wondered aloud, and then slowly continued along the corridor. Moving his light around, he saw small gaps on the two walls. _I don't like it_ - he thought to himself, but had no other choice, he had to go on. He just passed the first gap when some roaring, growling noise hit his ears that was becoming increasingly louder, as if water had been boiling somewhere. The air started to get hotter and hotter every second, then suddenly yellow light filled the flight as giant beam of fire shot out from the first hole. Simon suddenly did not even know what he was doing, just instinctively threw himself flat on the ground. Even so, he felt the searing heat of the flames on the neck. "I'm sure Lara would find a more elegant way" – he mused to himself, then jumped up from the ground and ran inside as the blazes of fire broke out of the holes one after the other as he ran along the passage. Finally Simon hurled himself forward with necks retracted, and almost flew out of flight.

"Ouch ..." - he exclaimed as he landed painfully in the dust. "That hurts." – as he looked back, the corridor was covered with fire, it was impossible to pass through it. He quickly looked around, but did not see much in the dark, the light of the fire did not spread far. In any case, it seemed he arrived at another cave.

"Kowalski? Are you there? "- he talked into the radio, and then waited. He started to think that there was no reception, when he heard the crashing sound. His voice barely made it through to him, Simon had to focus to understand what he was saying.

"Did you get across?" – he asked impatiently.

"Actually yes. But there is a problem." - Simon said absently.

"It would be better you tried to solve it because the half an hour I gave you is almost over." - Kowalski retorted.

"Give me Lara. I need to talk to her." - Simon said as if nothing had happened. He heard that the man was hesitating for a while, but then Lara talked.

"Are you okay?" – he heard her anxious voice.

"Yeah, but the corridor is blocked, and fire flooded everything."

"Look around, there must be something that turns off the trap. I'm sure that this was the right way." - she said excitedly. Simon carefully walked back to the entrance and looked around.

"There are three switches, showing something like animals." - he said once again into the radio.

"Wait a minute." - the reply came instantly. "I saw something like this in the notebook." There was some time when Simon only heard the static crackling, then Lara spoke again. "Hit the one with the bird on it." Simon did so and the fire disappeared in an instant and the darkness returned that filled the whole room.

"Then let's go!" - Kowalski tossed Lara into the dark corridor.


	15. Chapter 15

Lara could not help speeding up her pace when they were heading out of the corridor. She did not care how many soldiers followed her, how many weapons were fixed on her, she just wanted to see Simon. Wanted to see that he was fine. Suddenly someone from behind grabbed her arm and held her back.

"Not so fast!" - Kowalski said, but could not stop her.

"Leave me alone!" - Lara retorted, shaking his hand off her and quickly progressed. She was almost running. The flashlights cut into the darkness and she did not listen to anything. Just wanted to be with him. Suddenly she stopped when she noticed him standing in front of her and just looked at him as if she did not want to believe what she saw.

"Are you okay?" - Simon said as he approached her gently, stroking her face and Lara did not have to answer anything.

The soldiers streamed into the cave, bringing heavy equipment with them, and within minutes light flooded the room, after having assembled the lamps. The generator hummed softly, and Lara looked around in amazement. The room was so high that the light did not reach the end of it, the top of the walls were lost in the darkness. Simon lowered his hand, and amazed raised their heads, forgetting for a moment what was happening.

"And now what?" - Kowalski broke the silence, as he watched Lara, who was looking around in excitement. She was not searching for a long time, her eyes quickly stuck on something high up on the side wall.

"Give me the binoculars!" - she looked at Kowalski sharply, he motioned to one man. Lara held the device in front of her eyes, and smiled. "I think I know the next step." – she mused, but the soldiers suddenly encircled her again.

"Then maybe you could fill us in." – he spoke standing next to Eddie, who took the binoculars from her and looked up in the direction where she had earlier. Lara did not answer, just watched him from the corners of her eyes furiously. "There really is something up there." - Eddie slowly walked over to Kowalski and gave him the device.

"Bring our friend here, there is another job waiting for him." - Kowalski motioned to his men, who seized Simon from two sides, and tossed him in front of Kowalski. "I hope you have skills for climbing." – Kowalski said, but Eddie suddenly interrupted.

"I think we should send the woman." – he whispered barely audibly to Kowalski. "I've seen her climb and it wasn't a bad view." – he was grinning enthusiastically. "We can keep her better in check if we have the guy." - he added looking at Lara with pleasure, who stood not far from him.

"Maybe you are right." - Kowalski thought only for a few seconds. "You're going." - he said and then a small headset was thrown at Lara's feet on the ground. "If I'm right, you will not need anything else." – Kowalski laughed lightly. "I suppose I don't have to remind you not to try anything stupid if you want to see your lover again."

Lara's eyes narrowed as she looked back at Eddie, then stooped slowly to pick up the small device. Her eyes met Simon's for a moment, and she knew exactly what he was thinking. It was the same anxious concern and growing anger pounding in him. Lara turned on her heels, pushed a soldier out of her way, and walked over to the wall. All eyes were fixed on her, as she found the first catch, and pushed herself away from the ground. She was angry, but with every movement that feeling was increasingly overshadowed, excitement took its place, as the adrenaline started to work in her veins, and she only focused on the task.

The men had to raise their heads higher and higher, to be able to follow her moves. There was almost reverent silence in the room, except the steady humming of the generator. She was progressing with such graceful, airy elegance that Eddie was astonished again, and could not take his eyes off her. In a short period of time Lara was already half way, leaping a whole meter higher with a perfectly executed single jump. She stopped for a moment and looked down, her eyes looking for Simon. Lara knew he was watching her, but not like all the others. Even if she was already too far away to see his face, she knew exactly what he felt. Shaking her head she moved on. Finally, with a powerful move, she pulled herself up to the ledge she noticed from the bottom of the wall. Kneeling on the ground for a few seconds she relaxed her tired arm muscles.

Lara was still not sure what this was all about. Kowalski mentioned a book, but she did not find out much more about it from the booklet he had given her. As far as she could look through it, she had not found a more detailed description of what she would have to find in this place. Slowly she walked up to the switch, which was located on the wall at eye level. As a habit, she looked around, but did not notice anything, so she pulled the lever, but nothing happened.

"Why did nothing move?" – she heard Kowalski's impatient voice in her ear.

"You don't do something like this very often, do you?" - Lara countered sarcastically.

"Don't mess with me!" – he growled. "Rather find out what's wrong, because my patience is running out."

Lara swallowed a faint muffled curse, and then slowly turned and surveyed the surroundings, frowning. The light of the lamps did not fully reach up so high, but still it was not completely dark.

"What's that on the other side?" - Lara asked the man, because she could not see it clearly. "Check it out with the binoculars!" - Kowalski picked up the gadget and stared at the wall.

"You're right." - the man said. "There too is a lever" – he continued looking over to the other side, which was an almost perfect mirror image of the ledge where Lara was standing. "Then get to it."

"Send one of your men. I am sure that both need to be pulled at the same time." - Lara said while walking out to the edge and looked down at their enemies. Kowalski laughed.

"I don't think so." – he said simply. "Your friend here will go up there." – he tossed a headset also to Simon, and gestured with his head towards the wall. "Don't forget that I hear every word, and weapons are trained on you both. So don't try anything." - Lara shuddered for a moment, but said nothing. Simon would manage the wall, and it was better he was not close to Kowalski.

Simon started, and began to climb. When he had watched Lara progressing like a cat, it all had seemed as easy as a breeze. But now he experienced it himself that this was not the case at all. He had to fight for every move, the muscles in his arms began to ache already half way, his foot slipped off the stones several times. He could hear in his ear that Lara repeatedly hissed when he had difficulties, but she did not speak. The minutes seemed like hours as he moved up with difficulty, and then gasping he finally pulled himself up on the ledge. Lara did not take her eyes off him for a moment, feeling slightly relieved when she saw that he reached the top safely. Simon looked at her, and when Lara nodded her head, they both walked over to the wall and grabbed the handle.

"Three, two, one ... now .. "- Lara counted down, then they both pulled it. A crackling sound could be heard from somewhere further away, Lara stepped out to the edge to see what happened. Kowalski was also curiously turning his head, but could not see from bottom that opposite Lara and Simon a door leading to another passage opened. But barely a few minutes passed, and the gate closed again. There was not even enough time to assess how to reach it as an endless abyss separated them from it.

"Do something, we need to open it!" - Kowalski shouted, but Lara did not really care about it. She already knew how she was going to get over there, and was not interested in his useless comments.

"Simon, let's pull them again!" – Lara jabbered, and she stepped to the wall again. Simon had no time to react, he simply did what she had said, and then only watched in amazement what happened. In the past, he had the opportunity to experience what Lara was able to, but she could still surprise him. She immediately ran towards the edge, ever faster getting closer to the rim. With a dashing leap she hurled herself forward over the depth, and her hands confidently caught the first metal rod, which stood out from the wall. She swung around gracefully, and then jumped on to the next one, the momentum carrying her forward, and a few seconds later she landed elegantly on the other side of the abyss. Without thinking she ran towards the gate, which slowly started to close again. She hurled herself forward at the last moment, rolled under the gate and disappeared from Simon's sight behind the closing entrance.

"Lara ..." – Simon cried out, but could not do anything, he had no chance to follow her.

"What the hell is she doing?" - Kowalski shouted from below, once he realised what had happened. For a moment silent sat on the room that was finally broken by a loud crack making everyone look up. The entrance re-opened, and Lara was standing at the door, smiling. At least Simon was sure there was a smile on her face despite the fact that he could not see her clearly. She walked to the edge with confident strides, and then looked down at the others.

"Are you coming or what?" - she said defiantly, arms akimbo, standing at the top of the cliff.

...

Lara and Simon were sitting on the floor in one corner, two armed keeping them at bay. It took several hours until some sort of an elevator was installed for Kowalski to bring up all the equipment to the newly discovered passage. But he did not want to leave things to chance. Rather more time was spent than risk the success. He had already sacrificed so much over the past few months. Simon absently watched the soldiers pulling up the heavy boxes.

"Why did you come back? This was the perfect chance to get this famous book." - Simon whispered, while Lara moved closer to him.

"You still ask?" - Lara put her hand on his arm, but did not want the guards to notice them.

"It's unbelievable what you did before, but you really should have run." - Simon went on, but Lara did not let him continue.

"Don't argue about this any further. I won't leave you with this sicko. Don't even think about it." - Lara turned to Simon, leaning her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. "I don't want to do this any longer. I just want this to be over, and continue everything where we left off." - her voice sounded as soft as in the cave the evening before, and Simon did not care about the guards anymore. He pulled her closer and kissed her. Lara was surprised for a moment, but did not protest. She surrendered to the feeling, not caring about anything else.

"This is really touching. I'm so sorry I have to destroy this intimate moment." - Kowalski said in a mocking tone as he came forth to meet them. Lara looked up, but did not care what Eddie or Kowalski were thinking, who stood before them. With a measured move, she stroked the back of her hand over her lips, and held his gaze angrily.

"What do you want? There is the entrance, go" - Lara said stiffly, and Kowalski smiled easily.

"You didn't believe to get away with that much, did you?" – he answered absently. "But I let you choose which one of you wants to go in first."

Lara and Simon looked at each other, with the same expression in their eyes: let me go. But Lara was faster, and jumped up from the ground.

"I'm going." - she said rapidly, and already started towards the entrance, but the soldiers stepped in front of her.

"I said you can choose who wants to go, but that does not mean that it's up to you to decide." - Kowalski's voice was full of bitter irony. Rage and anger filled Lara in a second as she stepped towards the man, but the soldiers held her back. "Calm down, dear." - Kowalski looked at her, then slowly turned to Simon, who rose from the ground in the meantime too. "This time you won't go alone, one of my men will accompany you to make sure the lady here doesn't try anything." - he added sternly and then left them.

Simon walked along the dark corridor again, but this time in company. Although he was not really bothered by the armed men, who apparently was more scared than he was. He was wondering what kind of an interesting twist of fate it was that Lara was here too, and yet he was doing, what she was born to do. Trying not to think too much, he concentrated on avoiding running into any traps, but it was harder than he thought. It was more and more difficult to keep his head clear knowing that Lara was out there with that crazy Kowalski. It drove him crazy to know that they could be together, but instead, he was pacing in a dark passage, both trying to survive this adventure.

Suddenly he raised his head when he noticed that he was completely submerged in his thought, and was striding carelessly. By the way he realised what was happening, he passed the corridor and got into a dark room. A little further away from the middle of the room there was a dais standing, on it something bright and shining as he pointed the light on it. Simon instinctively started towards it, but the soldier trained the gun on him.

"Stop!" – he called out angrily. "From here it's not your job." – the soldier said, and spoke into the radio.

...

A couple of minutes later, Kowalski entered the room with hurried steps, and immediately gave the order to equip the lighting. He however did not wait until anything was done, immediately rushed to the dais. Stopping in front of it, he watched the thick book almost mesmerized that lay on the stand. The cover was shining brightly in the light of the lamp as if the whole was made of gold. The man just stood there for a while, and watched it intensely as if expecting some divine inspiration.

"What the hell is that?" - Lara whispered to Simon as some gunmen forced them into a corner. Simon did not mind not to participate in this madness, but Lara did not appear to share his opinion. On her tiptoes she was trying to make out what Kowalski was doing.

"I don't know. I couldn't see it. But if I'm not mistaken, this is the book." - Simon replied softly, while trying to hold Lara, who sometimes lost her balance attempting to rise as high as possible. He briefly smiled, amused by the fact how Lara was unable to hide her curiosity. But this was her life, and he had to accept it. Not that he ever wanted to change her. He began to understand why Lara had reacted the way she had that night. Simon had not thought through what he had said and now he felt how that could have sounded. However he loved her as she was, and never wanted her to give up her life for him.

"Oh shit, I can't see anything." – Lara said angrily, but for some reason Simon was sure that they would soon get enough to see. More than they would want to. Somehow he could not imagine that it would be so easy to obtain this book, so it was hidden so much.

Kowalski slowly leaned forward and touched the cover of the book. His fingers ran over the patterns, and Eddie could not understand what he was waiting for. He never would have thought that this tough man would behave this way when he would get so far. He seemed to be totally transfigured. Open it finally - Eddie thought wearily. Kowalski's hand finally approached the edge of the lid, and gently opened it...

…tried to open it as the book cover did not move. His moves became increasingly impatient, but despite his best efforts he could not budge it, all was in vain. As if being melted in the stones, the book lay rigidly in place.

"Bring her here!" - Kowalski shouted angrily.


	16. Chapter 16

Lara freed herself after the two soldiers dragged her in front of Kowalski. She looked at them angrily, but inside her she did not mind at all what was happening. She wanted to know what this was all about, and getting close to it was her only chance. Lara was sure that Simon disapproved her intentions, and she also knew that he was right, but she simply had to see it.

"Open it!" - the man said angrily and stepped aside. Lara felt like snapping something back to him, but she did not. As she went closer, she looked at the book with an almost as unworldly expression as the man before. Slowly she stroked over the cover, but did not see anything particular on it that could have explained why it could not be opened. However, the patterns caught her attention, and the longer she watched them, the more the recognition spread in her. Her eyes widened slightly, but she tried not to show her excitement. _This cannot be true_ ... - she thought to herself. _Is this really it? Does it really exist?_ Lara could not believe her eyes.

"So what?" - Kowalski growled again.

"Look, no matter how much you play the macho here, it won't change the situation." - Lara could not resist showing her annoyance. "Just wait till I figure out what it is." – she snapped sarcastically, but Kowalski was not in mood to be taking this tone. Suddenly he grabbed her arm and jerked her to him so that there were only a few inches between their faces.

"Don't mess with me!" - he hissed into Lara's face, his eyes gleaming in anger in a way that Lara regretted for a moment what she had said, though she hoped that he would not forget about it that he needed her. "And now get to it before I change my mind and consider that you cannot help me anymore." - he let go of her arm and tossed her back in front of the dais.

At that moment, light flooded the room when the soldiers finally managed to put together the lighting. Everyone looked up as a spacious room unfolded before their eyes. The ceiling could not be seen, but they immediately noticed three entrances to corridors, which were located on the three side walls around the platform. Lara immediately knew what to do. She squatted down and examined the platform holding the book, and right away saw the incisions. On the three sides of the column, just opposite the corridors on the walls, she discovered circular recesses.

"Here is the solution. You just need to enter those corridors and then get these items, which fit here. I'm sure that you can open the book then." - Lara suggested and turned back to Simon, but again the soldiers stood in her way.

"I think I'm not mistaken if I say that this task will be just the right one for you." - Kowalski smiled coolly. "I'll wait out here until you obtain them."

Lara raised her head and was feverish thinking how she could change the situation to their favour. She had to prevent him somehow from acquiring the book.

"Simon is coming with me." - Lara said, holding his gaze stiffly. Facing each other for a few seconds they stared at each other, and then Kowalski laughed.

"I love your sense of humour. I didn't even know that the British are so funny." - the man replied absently, but Lara did not take her eyes off him.

"I'm not kidding." - Lara said softly, but confidently.

"Don't forget it's not you who sets the conditions. I think I can still make you do what I want." - Kowalski approached, but all friendliness disappeared from his face.

"I hope you don't forget that you want this book. You could see that outside two people were needed to open the gate as well. But if it's not important for you, then let's forget about it." - Lara knew that she started a very dangerous game, but she had to try. She wanted Simon to be safe. Taking him with her was probably far from safe, but still better than leaving him with this madman. Kowalski cracked his neck and looked sharply Lara.

"Okay, but don't think you two are going to stay alone." - he finally gave in. "Eddie is going with you and if he doesn't answer the radio when I'm looking for him, then you will never get out of here alive." - Kowalski said.

Lara and Simon went to the first floor, with the usual headsets in their ears. Only this time Eddie was walking a few meters behind them and watched them absently. The flight did not look dangerous, but Lara was sure that whatever it was they needed to get, it would not be an easy job.

"What's your plan?" - Simon whispered, without looking at her, so that Eddie possibly would not notice them.

"I don't know yet. We'll see what awaits us in there."

"Somehow we should get rid of him." - Simon walked slowly, Lara did not want to rush to get there either. They needed time to think.

"You know that we can't. Trust me, we get what we need and in the meantime we pretend to cooperate." – the plan was born in Lara's head. At least the outlines of it.

"Could you see the book?" - Simon asked softly.

"Yes, and I think I know what it is, although I still don't believe it." - Simon raised his eyebrows, and briefly looked at her for the first time. "I'll tell you later."

"I know you hate me, but you don't know me." – Eddie talked from behind them suddenly.

"We don't even want to know you." - Lara said dismissively. "Don't bother with it, just do your job, and don't say anything." For a moment she remembered what had happened between them. Or rather, what might have happened if she had not been so confused, and she shuddered at the idea. She was angry with herself that Eddie could mislead her so easily. Eddie was watching her, that she knew, she could feel his eyes on her even without seeing him. Not really knowing why, but she protestingly stepped even closer to Simon.

The corridor ended and they entered a room. As they touched the first stone on the ground, light flooded the room. They all began to blink until their eyes accustomed to it after the darkness. Lara looked around. On a higher part on the other side of the room there was a round golden object glistening. Curiously, nothing stood in their way, they could have just easily walked over and taken it. But Lara knew it would not be so simple. She was feverishly thinking about what to do. Her eyes stuck to the floor that was covered by a lot of little holes. This was not the first time she saw something like that, she was sure that pikes would jump out of them.

"Wait here." - Lara said, and cautiously approached the slabs, where the wholes began. She stepped on the first, and then immediately jumped back, but nothing happened. Raising her eyebrows, she tried again. No matter how far she walked forward, she did not activate any trap. Doubtfully looking around the room, she went to the middle, but still nothing happened. Weird – she thought to herself. She pulled herself up the ledge, where the bright ball was waiting for her. Then she noticed that Simon joined her, but Eddie was just rigidly standing at the entrance and watched them. Apparently he did not want to risk getting hurt.

"What are you doing here? I told you to wait for me there." – she said to Simon a bit annoyed. Lara did not know how to get out of there, it would have been enough to risk her own safety.

"You don't get rid of me so easily again." - he looked at her, smiling. "Come on, let's get to it."

Lara stepped up to the dais, and gently touched the small sphere. Having no other choice, she lifted it from it place. Then, accompanied by a sharp sound, thousands of sharp spikes struck out of the ground, blocking the way back for them.

"That's great, just what I expected." - Lara muttered angrily. Simon walked up beside her, looked at her asking. "I think that's the only chance we have." - Lara pointed at the single stone, which was empty. "Then we'll see how to proceed."

"Let me go." - Simon held her back by the arm. Lara turned back, standing in front of him.

"Don't start this again." - she said, smiling sweetly. "I know you worry about me, but let me do my job." - and Simon slowly let go of her arm.

"But promise me to be careful." - he looked at her.

"Was there ever a time when I wasn't?" - Lara laughed, and walked towards the ledge. Simon just absent-mindedly rolled his eyes and followed her.

Lara walked to the edge, then with one well-aimed jump she landed on the empty stone. From every direction sharp, two-meter-high spikes surrounded her. As soon as her feet touched the stone, she heard a rustling sound, but to her biggest surprise the way did not open up anywhere in front of her.

"Well, what the hell is this?" - Lara asked in surprise, while looking at Simon, who still stood on the higher part above her. He looked around curiously, then hurried over the other side.

"I think you'll be glad that I followed you." – he said with a cocky smile on his face. "I'm starting to feel that you would get nowhere without me" – he kept smiling, Lara sent him an amused grimace this time.

Simon climbed down, and stood on the stone, which was located on the other side, farther away from Lara. As he stepped on it, the way opened up for Lara right away. She smiled when she understood the system and was really pleased that Simon was there with her. All was like before. Lara went on, and then the way opened in front of Simon. Cautiously they circled the spikes, keeping an eye on each other. Lara finally stepped out on the last stone, and then waited until Simon also moved forward. Looking at him, she then nodded her head, and they both hurled themselves forward and safely landed in front of Eddie, while the spikes hissed out of the ground again. Simon came to her, and pulled her up from the ground.

"I guess we can go back now." - Lara said. "Thanks for your help!" – she sarcastically called over to Eddie, walking past him, back to the corridor.


	17. Chapter 17

Kowalski was waiting for them when they arrived to the middle room. Weapons were trained on them again, and Lara almost automatically put her hands up in the air.

"Give it to me" - Kowalski said coldly, and moved closer to them.

"What makes you think I have it?" - Lara countered sarcastically, but seeing his cutting glance she resignedly reached into her pocket and handed him the sphere.

"You see, now we understand each other." - Kowalski snapped sarcastically, and then turned away from her. "Then it's time you go for the second one."

"Don't you think that we deserve a little rest?" - Lara was trying to win some time, but knew it did not make a lot of sense.

"You're a tough woman, you'll make it." - Kowalski replied immediately, and Eddie came up behind Lara and pressed the gun to her back.

"Go, don't waste our time" – he said, Lara looked at him almost with disgust. Simon, however, took her hand and pulled her towards the entrance.

"It makes no sense to resist now. Be sensible." - he whispered to Lara, who kept sending angry glances to Eddie.

"He will get what he deserves, you'll see." - Lara hissed, who was even more hurt by the man's betrayal, since she did not notice it.

"Just calm down and come with me" - Simon's voice sounded almost reassuring. "Concentrate on the job."

...

The second room was far beyond imagination. As they entered, they could barely make a couple of steps forward and the floor ended abruptly. Lara walked to the edge and looked down at the seemingly endless abyss. Small lights were lit along the walls, but she could not even count how many there were when her eyes followed them down.

"What the hell is that?" - Simon came up next to Lara. The gap was criss-crossed by countless, arm-thick chains, like a giant spider web, as far as the eye could see downwards.

"I think I need to get down to the bottom. Doesn't even seem difficult." – Lara mused aloud.

"I don't like it. Looks far too easy." - Simon was strolling up and down nervously. Then he noticed a lever on the wall behind him. "What's this good for?" - he asked as he approached it.

"Pull it!" - Lara said simply. Simon was thinking for a moment, but then decided that it was better to find out in advance what it did, before Lara started down, so he shrugged and pulled the lever. Although they heard a click, absolutely nothing happened.

"As it seems it's the same case, as in the first room." - concern reflected on his face.

"We'll find out if I get that sphere." - Lara walked towards the abyss, but Simon stepped in and grabbed her arm. "Don't even start ..." - she said, stopping, but could not continue because Simon embraced her and kissed her warmly.

"Please, be careful." - he whispered.

"I will." - Lara replied absently, but Simon did not let go.

"Seriously." - his voice rang hard, there was nothing left of the lightness.

"I know." – Lara looked back at him and saw the uncertainty in his eyes. "Don't do this please, everything will be all right."

"I really hope so. I don't want to lose you again." – for a few seconds they were just looking at each other silently, then Lara took a deep breath and hastily kissed him.

"I love you, too." – she jabbered and before Simon could have realised her words, she turned around and jumped into the depth.

Lara snatched the first chain, and then shimmied forward till she was above the next one, and let go. As the chains were not really far apart, she landed securely on her feet. She staggered lightly, but quickly regained her balance. Holding her arms to the side she walked a few steps and then lowered herself again. She kept climbing down, getting lower and lower. Simon wondered again how easy it looked like, but knew that it was not a simple task. Her words echoed in his head, he still sometimes found himself just staring into the nothing, being absorbed in his thoughts. He never would have thought that Lara would say out loud what she felt, and now that she did so, it came so suddenly that Simon could not react anything. Not that Lara would have given him time to respond. He wanted to hold her in his arms, and never let her go again. What the hell are we doing here at all? – he mused to himself, as he slowly looked to the side, where Eddie stood stiffly. When he noticed that Simon was watching, he abstractedly grinned, as if wanting to show that he was in charge. The American slowly came closer and stopped next to Simon, watching the more and more retreating figure of Lara.

"She is quite something." - Eddie said with a grin.

"You know nothing about her." - Simon muttered under his breath.

"As I see you do know quite a bit." - Eddie continued, as if he had not noticed the hostility of his voice.

"It's none of your business." - Simon retorted, and turned away stiffly, but he did not take his eyes off Lara.

"Believe it or not ..." - but Eddie was unable to continue because suddenly an ear-splitting crash shook the whole room, as if some giant machine had been started, even the floor was trembling beneath their feet. They both raised their heads in horror, and looked down to the bottom. As if the gap had changed to hell, the chains were in motion, rattling between the walls, coming out on one side and disappearing on the other again. In the meantime, some sharp, small spikes jumped out of them from time to time, flames were shooting out of the walls on every side. Simon's eyes widened, despair appeared on his face. How the hell would Lara get out of here? – the thought ran through his mind, and his whole body stiffened.

"I think now it's a good time to try that lever again." – he heard the amused voice of Lara in his ears, which dragged him out of his thoughts.

"Oh my God! This is absurd!" - Simon said, releasing the air from his lungs that he withheld without noticing.

"Pull yourself together, and help me!" - Lara said irritably. Simon shook his head, jumped to the lever and pulled it without thinking. Again they heard the snap, and the crash became even louder.

"The chains changed direction, but that's all what happened." – Eddie stated, still staring down.

"That's not much, but more than nothing." - Lara's voice still rang with ease, as if it had not been her at the bottom of the ravine below. "Listen to me! I need your help to get out. When I say it, pull the lever." - Lara said with a deep sigh. She tried to speak easily not to frighten Simon, but she was not calm. It was not the first time she got into a difficult situation, she would resolve this one too, somehow. Putting the small sphere into her pocket, she looked up, trying to find some pattern in the appearance of the flames. The chains were rattling in a steady pace above her head, ghostly shadows were cast by the fire. The noise was deafening, the heat was almost unbearable. With a sudden move, she jumped and caught the first chain, but immediately let it go when a small blade cut her finger.

"Damn ..." – there was a bleeding cut on Lara's finger, she hissed as she touched it.

"Are you okay?" - almost immediately she heard the worried voice of Simon in her ears.

"Sure, no problem, I just overlooked something." - Lara said lightly. Although Simon said nothing, Lara could hear his worried breathing, trying not to show his anxiety though. For a moment she relaxed remembering the scene before. She was glad to finally having said it. Yes, she loved him and was not interested in anything else, she would go anywhere with him. Lara just hoped that there would be still occasion for her to prove it. She closed her eyes and settled her thoughts. She could not allow her mind to wander if she wanted to get out of here. Concentrate! – she ordered herself, and then set off again, this time watching the blades when she grabbed the chain. Quickly she pulled herself up, and before the fire broke out of the wall, she jumped up to the next chain above her head. After waiting for a few seconds until the chain reached the right spot, she leaped and caught the next one.

"Pull the lever!" – Lara shouted into the headset, and the chain suddenly began to move in the other direction under her hand. Suddenly she raised her eyebrows, because she knew she only had seconds before the flames would appear again, but her reflexes saved her. Still feeling the heat on her legs she climbed up, but there was no time to catch her breath, the next chain was already rattling above her head. She jumped and pulled herself up again and again. And then she made the fatal mistake, pain split into her hands as she reached into the blades on the next chain. With her last strength she could still hold herself with her other hand, but she dangerously lost her balance. Just hanging there with one hand for a moment, she tried to collect herself, while the chain moved on. She raised her head, when she felt that the small ball began to slip out of her pocket, but it was too late. She snatched, but she had to let the chain go to reach it. Tumbling uncontrolled for a second, she somehow managed to catch something, blades scratched her forearms, blood flowed down her arm. Fire emerged from the wall in front of her, the air around her was so hot that heavy drops of sweat appeared on her forehead.

"Simon! Now "- she shouted desperately, because the fire scorched her arm more and more as the chain moved closer to the wall. Lara felt a sudden jerk, and was able to escape. At least for the moment. Quickly she stuffed the sphere into her pocket again, and now with bigger efforts than before, but she started up. Her arm ached, the blood dried on her skin, at least the bleeding stopped. Pulling herself up again, she saw Simon's face anxiously watching her, and she just wanted to get out. Lara paused for a breath, and wiped the sweat from her brow. She sprang up again, there were only two chains above her head, but then her wet hand slipped. Her mouth opened to scream, but no sound came out. She had no idea how, but Simon suddenly jumped after her and his hand held her wrist firmly. He dragged her up, holding himself with his other hand, and Lara looked at him in relief. There, hanging side by side on the top chain, they just smiled for a moment. However, Lara then glimpsed the fire behind them, which they approached unstoppably.

"Eddie! Pull the lever! Right now! "- Lara shouted, and for a second Eddie did even not know what she was saying. Suddenly he jumped back and pulled the lever, and finally they were moving away from the fire. Simon hauled himself up and finally jumped out of the abyss, and also helped Lara. When she was out of danger, Simon pulled her to him with such force, as if never wanting to let her go again.

"Don't do this to me again. Please." - his voice sounded almost pleading, as he whispered into her ear. Lara closed her eyes and just enjoyed the intimacy of the moment; she did not want to think about anything else.


	18. Chapter 18

Lara was thinking at the entrance of the last room, watching the huge stone blocks in front of her. It was easy to obtain the first ball, but she really had to suffer for the second one. If she wanted to be logical, the third one would be easy again, but she was afraid that would not be the case. Rhythmic thunder shook the entire room, as the terrible weights hit each other powerfully. Moreover, time was against them. This was the last sphere, and Lara had to figure out something to prevent Kowalski from opening the book, although she still had no idea what she could do. The situation did not make her confident at all that the man would just simply release them, if Lara did what he asked from them. The question arose in her why she was struggling with this at all when she knew all too good what fate awaited them, but she knew herself too well. She had to see what was in that book, and this was the only way to achieve this. Lara would never sit down in a corner, give up everything and wait for her fate.

"Well, what can I say? After the previous room this doesn't excite me any longer." - Simon said with apparent ease, but Lara could see it in his eyes that he was pretending.

"You don't have to worry. This is peanuts." - she smiled. Although she was not so sure at all. Getting in seemed to be still easy to do, but she had no idea how she would make it out. The several-meter-high stones were hitting each other, one after the other closing the way in for some seconds. Inwards they created an almost funnel-like opening, but it was impossible to get through them the other way round.

"You have a plan?" – Simon asked, while they both watched the stones rigidly.

"Sure." - Lara said, although she was sure if he believed her. Simon smiled faintly, then turned to Lara.

"Is it worth all this?" - he talked softly.

"Now you ask this as if we had any other choice."

"No, maybe not really." - Simon said resignedly. "But nevertheless I'm glad it happened."

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now either." - Lara smiled, and Simon knew that this was only partly about him, but he did not mind. She lived for the adventure, and he loved her for it. "I get the sphere, and we get out of here, I promise." – Lara looked at him, and took a step forward.

"I know. I'm sure of it." - Simon answered, and let go of her hand, which was not easy, but he had to. He realised they could only be together, if he did not hold her back.

Lara stepped up in front of the rocks, relaxing her muscles. Simon could see how focused she was, her body almost took over the rhythm of the stones. Then suddenly, as the first pair parted before her eyes, she started to run, and Simon lost sight of her a moment later, after the stones closed behind her. Lara bowed her head, she did not want to see the stone blocks beside her, only concentrated on running. The deafening thunder crashed behind her back, and she knew that one wrong move, and it was all over. There was no second chance. The muscles of her thighs tensed, but she forced herself to an even faster pace, as she felt the swish of the stones getting closer to her. She looked up and saw the end of the trap, and with a sweeping motion she hurled herself forward, and landed on the hard ground. Only for a moment she lay in the dust, breathing deeply.

"I'm inside " - she talked into the headset while standing up and dusting herself off.

"Good." - Simon answered, but they both knew that the worst was not yet over.

"I get the ball, and I'm out of here." - Lara said lightly, even though she did not know how she would achieve this. She approached the small dais, looked around suspiciously, but then simply lifted the small ball. The room was shaking, Lara faltered for a moment, but quickly regained her balance. Ready to jump she was waiting to see what happened, but no stones were falling, no arrows were fired towards her, the floor did not collapse under her feet.

"For God's sake!" – Lara heard Simon's voice in her ear, when she walked back to the stone blocks, which were now rumbling in a changed rhythm.

"Well, this is bloody fantastic" - Lara said, and she knew that Simon was standing on the other side, just like her, even if they could not see each other.

"Now how do you get out?" - Simon was worried, because the stones were now moving alternately, leaving no opportunity to anyone to run along between them.

"I'm just trying to figure it out." - Lara mused aloud.

"Maybe if you start and always step to the next hole before the stones close, you would manage" - Simon suggested, startling at each crash.

"No way, there is not enough time" - Lara strolled up and down, and was feverishly thinking. There must be a way out, there is always – she mused to herself. Having found that it was impossible to get through the stones, she began looking elsewhere. "If not between them, then maybe over them?" – she wondered aloud. Simon also raised his head on the other, and began to anxiously watch the stone blocks. The horrible weights were rustling dreadfully, he was terrified to think that anyone would be caught between them.

"Are you sure about this?" - he countered softly.

"Do you see any other option?" - Lara's voice rang with confidence. "I just need to find a way to get on them.

"Just tell me what to do." - Simon said.

"You can't do anything, I have to solve this." - Lara replied, and walked towards the wall, because it was the only chance to climb so high that she could jump on the top of the stone blocks. Simon knew he helped her the most if he stayed silent.

Lara could barely hold herself, but she managed to get higher. With some concern on her face she watched the fast-moving rocks, but she had to make a decision. Lara waited for the right moment, and then jumped. It was strange, when the ground trembled beneath her feet, but there was not much time to think. As the stone went backwards, Lara jumped and landed securely on the next block. Deliberately she moved forward as if she had not been playing with her own life. She was almost at the end, when her foot slipped on a rock, and she just had time to catch the edge of the stone in the last second. For a moment she did not know where she was, but she raised her head when she felt the winds of the approaching stone. When the stones crashed together, Lara was already on top of them again, then ran, and jumped away from the penultimate stone block. She landed hard on the ground, not far from Simon, who immediately ran to her. Lara laughed with relief, lying in the dust, and triumphantly holding up the little sphere in her hands.

"You're out of your mind, but I adore you." - Simon laughed as he looked at her.

"Now we just have to figure out what to do when we go out." - Lara sat up, her face going serious when she looked back at Simon.

"I really don't think that we would stand a chance." - Simon said resignedly.

"I think it's time to start." - Eddie said as he walked up to them, and they raised their arms when he trained the gun on them. "It's not smart to make Kowalski wait."


	19. Chapter 19

Lara had no chance to do or say anything, when they left the hallway. Armed men immediately grabbed her from two sides, and she could only imagine that the same thing happened to Simon as well. Kowalski came up to her, looking stiff and stretched out his hand.

"Give it to me on your own accord, don't make me take it from you." - the man's voice still sounded cool, but now some excitement sparkled in it. Lara struggled, trying to escape from the grip of the militants, but quickly calmed down when a gun was pressed to Simon's head. "If you survived so far, it would be a shame to make this mistake now." - Kowalski held his palm towards her, but then he noticed the lump in Lara's pocket, and simply reached down and took the sphere. Lara tried in vain to protest. "And now, enjoy the show." – Kowalski said and walked towards the dais holding the book. The soldiers forced Lara on her knees, twisting her arms behind her back so that she could hardly move.

Kowalski picked up the three spheres, with concentration on his face he bent down, and then introduced the first into its place. Lara was watching his every move with thrilled awe on her face. She had no idea what would happen, but now she wanted to know. Everything lost was meant to be found. The second sphere was in place, and Lara leaned forward, as far as she could to see everything. The man's movements have become increasingly measured as he approached the third sphere, but it was finally pushed into place, and he jumped up excitedly.

At this point everything seemed to have changed. The book burst open by itself, and some terrible winds swept across the room. They could hardly keep themselves up against it. Kowalski laughed, and then struggling against the power wind he dragged himself over to the book, and picked it up. All was swirling, dust stirred up and buried everything. The soldiers stepped back frightened, covering their eyes with their arms to protect themselves. The whole room shook, Lara saw cracks running down on the walls in the rocks. The wind suppressed all noises, they heard nothing but the whiz. As the soldiers let go off her, Lara slowly crept towards Simon.

Kowalski, however, did not flee, did not defend himself, but stood there stiffly and suddenly began to read aloud from the book. His voice filled the hall way in a supernatural way, rumbling with the force of a thunder. Lara did not understand a word of what he chanted, but raised her head with fear when suddenly as if the ceiling had vanished above their heads, dark, black clouds gathered. In this seemingly unbelievable wreathing lightning flickered and thunder shook the entire room, making the walls crack even more threateningly. Lara struggled to her feet, but she could hardly keep her balance.

"We must get the book!" – she shouted, but she did not believe that Simon would have heard her voice.

Strange, never seen light beams appeared in the air, they looked as if one could have touched them. The soldiers fled with desperation, not caring about neither the prisoners, nor Kowalski anymore, they just wanted to get out alive. In all the commotion everything ceased to exist, Lara did not know where up and down was, what would be left when this would end. If at all it was over once, and they were still alive. She looked back and saw that Simon tried to follow her, gathering all his strength. There was only one thing on her mind: Kowalski, who stood in the middle of all hell, like a rock. Suddenly, he raised the book above his head, whereupon lightning filled the entire room, as if suddenly all of them struck into his body at the same time. Lara covered her eyes with her hands, struggling to keep her balance.

Another huge tremor shook the room, the walls began to collapse, huge rocks fell down from the ceiling. The stones were picked up in the maelstrom, and circled in an unearthly way, speeding around them. The air filled with dust, rocks, everything sparkled, and Lara thought she was no longer able to breathe.

Kowalski clenched his hands, and looked up to the billowing storm above him, and then a final, huge lightning started, which hit him straight. Lara saw the figure of the man tremble, light burst from every of his pores, the book fell out of his hands, dropping useless to the ground. He fell to his knees screaming, his cry filled the entire room like a frightened death scream. Lara was only a few steps away from him, but it seemed like an eternity. The ceiling, like a huge glass shield, burst over their head, and as if the sky was falling, it crashed into milliards of shards.

Suddenly, someone grabbed Lara' arm. She jerked her head back and Simon looked at her. She saw that he was shouting desperately, but could not understand a word of it. Lara felt that Simon was pulling her in the opposite direction, but she refused. Simon then immediately understood what she wanted, looking at her in horror on his face. Lara sent him one single look, and he understood that he could do nothing because Lara would insist anyway.

Kowalski was weakly kneeling on the ground, directly around him all swirled with even greater strength. The lightning seemed to have been spread out all over his body, his eyes stared into the sky, but no sound came out of his open his mouth any longer. Lara struggled to get there, and reached her hand out towards the book. Then, as if by magic, Kowalski fixed his eyes on her, their eyes met in a desperate moment, and then the man grabbed Lara's wrist, squeezing it so hard that she would have screamed if she had the strength for it. The maelstrom strengthened even further, the book rose into the air before their eyes, and Lara reached for it before the wind had caught it. Kowalski could not hold her and Lara drifted helplessly in the cavalcade. Lara felt rocks hitting her body, pain split into her as lightning touched her skin. All blurred in front of eyes, but all she felt was holding the book and the sudden realization struck her that she would not survive. For the first time in her life she knew she would have had to flee. Simon's face floated before her when she closed her eyes. She stretched out her arm to touch him, but she did not reach him. As if Simon wanted to say something to her, but she did not hear his voice. From time to time he disappeared from sight, then reappeared again.

It took her a few seconds before she realised that she did not imagine Simon's face, and indeed the man stretched his hand towards her. As if finding new strength, Lara pulled herself together, and when she saw Simon in the commotion again, she grabbed his hand. She did not know how she was capable to do so, but she did not want to understand. The man pulled, and the frenzy suddenly calmed around Lara, Kowalski's face moved further away, while all just kept falling apart.

Suddenly everything was silent, as if bursting out of this shell, the whole whirl was left behind, she almost flew out of it. The only thing she saw was Kowalski roaring desperately, and the room shattered, huge rocks fell everywhere, and the man's face disappeared from sight.

Simon jerked her with such force that Lara immediately came to herself. They had to get out before it was too late. And Lara never wanted anything more in her life than to get out of here. They ran out while the whole cave was shaking at a level that sometimes they almost lost their balance, but they did not care about anything. Simon took her hand and pulled her with him, while Lara followed almost beside herself, she did not know where they were. An explosion rocked the corridor behind them, and she had no idea what could have been the cause. They already felt the hot impulse, which swept through the flight, but at the last minute they hurled forward to the shabby elevator Kowalski built, and they crashed downwards. Above their heads flames filled everything.

They had no time to worry about that all fell apart around them. If they had stopped for a moment, such a spectacle would have evolved in front of them, as never before to anyone, but this would have been probably the last thing they would have seen in their lives. They were panting heavily, but did not deal with it, just rushed. Lara saw the body of the soldiers who were buried under the rocks, and she did not want to end that way. Simon suddenly glimpsed the light at the end, it was only a matter of minutes to reach the entrance. Another explosion shook the room behind them, all collapsed, all disappeared.

The ceiling trembled, Simon suddenly pulled Lara and jumped. As if flying, they were thrown out of passage by a huge, hot blow and they landed meters away. All air ran out of their lungs as they thumped to the ground. Lara's body painfully landed on Simon's, who was steadfastly holding on to her.

For a few minutes they were just lying there, not being sure if they were still alive. But the pain testified that. Lara stirred, lifted her head moaning and then looked at him.

"Oh my God!" – that was all she could mumble, and then fell back on his chest.

"I know." - Simon pressed the words out of him making Lara laugh wearily, and then she pushed her hand to her side, as pain split into her by the gesture.

"I guess I've never been so glad to be hurt." – she gasped happily, stroking his cheek. "Thanks." - she said softly.

"Oh, that was nothing. I'm always ready to serve, if it's about you." - he said half laughing, still breathing heavily. Suddenly he turned around to have Lara under him what made them both groan in pain.

"I think for this you have to wait a little longer." - Lara smiled as Simon gently kissed her.

"For you I wait as long as you want." – he replied with a grin.

"How about we tried to get out of here and get home somehow? I think I know a much more convenient place for us to convalesce."- Lara asked whereupon Simon smiled cockily.

"I think it's a pretty good idea." – he stood up and slowly pulled Lara up as well.

"Not to mention that curiosity is killing me to find out what's in this." - Lara joked as she waved the shiny book in her hand.

"I wonder how I knew that you'd say that" - Simon grinned resignedly, and followed her happily into the woods.

* * *

**Another story coming to the end! This was a great time, I hope you enjoyed it. Of course I'm planning to continue this and in the third part of the trilogy we will find out what this book is, who survived and who not, what secrets are hiding in it. There is still a great deal of adventure that is awaiting our heroes :)**

**And I promise I won't have them fight again :) **

**As always thanks to Najel, LiveLongLoveLife-xDataRulezx, Arthemida, Lady-Dragonfly89 and NeoKyo2k3 for following up on this and sending me their reviews, which meant a lot to me. Special thanks to Lara Anne for the beta-reading and the continuous support!**

**Keep reading my other story... the sequel to Crossroads is coming up very soon!**

**Talk to you soon and happy reading!  
**


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